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BX  7260  .E3  A6  1889 
Allen,  Alexander  V.  G. 

1908. 
Jonathan  Edwards 


1841 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/jonathanedwarOOalle 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS 


BY 


ALEXANDER  V.  G.  ALLEN,  D.  D. 

paOFESSOB  IN  THE  EPISCOPAL  TUEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL,  LN  CAAIUBIDGE,  MASS. 


BOSTON  AND  NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

1889 


Copyright,  1889, 
Bt  ALEXANDER  V.  G.  ALLEN. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  0.  Houghton  &  Company. 


The  edition  of  Edwards'  works  to  which  refer- 
ences are  made  is  known  as  the  Worcester  edition, 
in  four  volumes,  published  in  New  York  in  1847. 
I  have  drawn  freely  from  his  Life  by  Dr.  S.  E. 
Dwight  published  in  1830.    Valuable  as  this  work 
is,  it  does  not  constitute  an  adequate  biography. 
Much  that  would  throw  light  upon  Edwards'  his- 
tory is  withheld  from  publication.     It  is  greatly  to 
be  regretted  also  that  there  is  no  complete  edition 
of  his  works.    But  in  the  method  which  I  have  fol- 
lowed I  have  not  lacked  for  abundance  of  material. 
I  have  endeavored  to  reproduce  Edwards  from  his 
books,  making  his  treatises,  in  their  chronological 
order,  contribute  to  his  portraiture  as  a  man  and 
as  a  theologian,  a  task  which  has  not  been  hereto- 
fore attempted.     I  have  thought  that  something 
more  than  a  mere  recountal  of  facts  was  demanded 
in  order  to  justify  the  endeavor  co  rewrite  his  life. 
What  we  most  desire  to  know  is,  what  he  thought 
and  how  he  came  to  think  as  he  did.     The  aim  of 
my  work  is  a  critical  one,  with  this  inquiry  always 
in  view.     Criticism,  however,   should   be  sympa- 
thetic to  a  certain  extent  with  its  object,  or  it  will 


VI  PREFATORY  NOTE. 

lack  insight  and  appreciation.  I  have  not  found 
myseK  devoid  of  sympathy  with  one  who  has  filled 
so  large  a  place  in  the  minds  of  the  New  England 
people.  Edwards  is  always  and  everywhere  inter- 
esting, whatever  we  may  think  of  his  theology. 
On  literary  and  historical  grounds  alone,  no  one 
can  fail  to  be  impressed  with  his  imposing  figure 
as  he  moves  through  the  wilds  of  the  new  world. 
The  distance  of  time  from  that  early  period  in  our 
history  lends  its  enchantment  to  the  view,  enhan- 
cing the  sense  of  vastness  and  mystery  which  en- 
velops him.  Our  great  American  historian,  Mr. 
Bancroft,  has  justly  remarked:  "He  that  would 
know  the  workings  of  the  New  England  mind  in 
the  middle  of  the  last  century  and  the  throbbings 
of  its  heart,  must  give  his  days  and  nights  to  the 
study  of  Jonathan  Edwards."  He  that  would  un- 
derstand, it  might  be  added,  the  significance  of 
later  New  England  thought,  must  make  Edwards 
the  first  object  of  his  study. 
Caivibridge,  March  22,  1889. 


CONTENTS. 


FIRST  PERIOD. 

THE  PARISH  ^HNISTER,  1703-1735. 

Page 
I.  Childhood.  —  Eakly  Life.  —  Notes  on  the  ISItnd  .        1 

II.  Resolutions.  —  Diary.  —  Conversion  ...  21 
ni.  Settlement    at     Northampton.  —  Marriage.  — 

Domestic  Life 38 

IV.  Edwards  as  a  Reformer.  —  Sermons  on  Depend- 
ence AND  Spiritual  Light.  —  Special  and  Com- 
mon Grace 52 

V.  The  Moral  Government  of  God.  —  Future  Pun- 
ishment.—  Justification  by  Faith      .  •     .        .      78 
VI.  Edwards    as    a    Preacher.  —  His    Imprecatory 

Sermons 103 

SECOND  PERIOD. 

THE  GREAT  AWAKENING,  1735-1750. 

I.  Revival  at  Northampton.  —  Narrative  of  Sur- 
prising Conversions 133 

II.  The  Great  Awakening.  —  Distinguishing  Marks 

OF  A  Work  of  the  Spirit  of  God    .        .        .        161 

III.  Evils  and  Abuses  of  the  Great  Awakening.  — 

Thoughts  on  the  Revival 177 

rV.  Treatise  on  the  Religious  Affections    .        .  218 

V.  Union  in  Prayer.  —  David  Brainerd  .  .  .  232 
VI.  Dismissal  from  Northampton.  —  Qualifications 

for  Full  Communion 248 


VIU  CONTENTS. 

THIRD  PERIOD. 

THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  THEOLOGIAN,  1750-1758. 

I.  Removal  to  Stockbridge  as  JVIissionary  to  the 

Indians 273 

II.  The  Freedom  of  the  Will 281 

III.  Defence  of  the  Doctrine  of  Original  Sin  .        .  302 

IV.  Treatise  on  the  Nature  of  True  Virtue        .  313 
V.  God's  Last  End  in  the  Creation  ....  327 

VI.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity     ....  338 

Conclusion 377 

Bibliography 391 

Index .  395 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


1631.  None  but  church  members  admitted  as  freemen. 

1633.  Settlement  of  East  Windsor. 

1648.  Cambridge  Platform.  Adoption  of  Westminster  Con- 
fession. 

1650.  Descartes  died. 

1654.  Settlement  of  Northampton. 

1654.  Approval  of  magistrates  required  in  order  to  settle  a 
minister. 

1662.  Synod  at  Boston  adopted  the  Half-way  Covenant. 

1669-1758.  Rev.  Timothy  Edwards. 

1677.  Spinoza  died. 

1679.  Reformatory  Synod  in  Boston. 

1684.  Withdrawal  of  the  charters. 

1685.  Accession  of  James  II. 

1686.  Sir  Edmond  Andros  landed  in  Boston. 
1688-1691.  Witchcraft  delusion. 

1688.  Accession  of  William  and  Mary. 

1691.  The  new  charter. 

1692.  Episcopalians,  Baptists,  and  Quakers  exempted  from 

tax  for  support  of  Congregational  churches  in  Mas- 
sachusetts. 

1701.  Society  for  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts. 

1701.  Charter  for  college  at  Say  brook,  afterwards  Yale 
College. 

1702-1714.  Queen  Anne. 

1703.  Jonathan  Edwards  bom. 

1703-1791.  John  Wesley. 


I 


X  CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE. 

1705.  Plea  of  Cotton  Mather  for  increased  efficiency  of 
councils. 

1706-1790.  Benjamin  Franklin. 

1707-1709.  Controversy  on  the  Lord's  Supper  as  a  convert- 
ing ordinance. 

1708.  Say  brook  Platform  in  Connecticut. 

1713.  Order  of  Queen  Anne  establishing  bishoprics  in  Amer- 
ica. 

1714-1727.  George  I. 

1715.  Malfebranche  died. 

1716.  Leibnitz  died. 

1719-1720.  Edwards  graduated  from  Yale  College. 
1722.  Edwards  licensed  to  preach. 
1722.  Secession  of  Congregational  ministers  in  Connecticut 

to  the  Episcopal  Church. 

1724.  Edwards  a  tutor  at  Yale. 

1725.  Proposed  reformatory  synod  forbidden  by  the  king. 

1726.  Edwards  ordained  at  Northampton. 
1726-1728.  Berkeley  at  Newport. 
1727-1760.  George  II. 
1731.  Edwards'  sermon  on  Man's  Dependence. 

1734.  Edwards'  sermon  on  Spiritual  Light. 

1735.  First  revival  at  Northampton. 

1735.  Wesley  sailed  for  Georgia. 

1736.  Bishop  Butler's  Analogy. 

1736.  Edwards'  Narrative  of  Surprising  Conversions. 

1838.  Date  of  Wesley's  conversion. 

1738.  Whitefield  in  Georgia. 

1738.  Publication  of  Edwards'  sermons  on  Justification,  etc. 

1739-1741.  Whitefield's  second  visit  to  America. 

1740.  The  Great  Awakening. 

1741.  Edwards'  sermon  at  Enfield. 

1741.  Publication  of  Edwards'  Distinguishing  Marks,  etc. 

1742.  Edwards'  Thoughts  on  the  Revival. 
1744-1748.  Whitefield's  third  visit. 

1744-1749.  War  with  Indians  and  French,  known  as  King 
George's  War.  » 

I 


( 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE.  xi 

1746.  Publication  of  Edwards  on  the  Religious  Affections. 

1746.  College  of  New  Jersey  founded,  afterwards  Princeton 

College. 

1747.  David  Brainerd  died. 
1749.  Troubles  at  Northampton. 

1749.  Publication  of  Edwards'  Qualifications  for  Full  Com- 

munion. 

1750.  Edwards'  dismissal  from  Northampton. 

1750.  Decline  of  Half-way  Covenant. 

1751.  Edwards  removes  to  Stockbridge. 

1752.  Edwards'  Reply  to  Williams. 

1754.  Publication  of  The  Freedom  of  the  Will. 

1755.  Treatises  of  Edwards  written  on  Virtue  and  End  of 

the  Creation. 

1757.  Edwards  called  to  Princeton. 

1758.  Publication  of  Edwards'  treatise  on  Original  Sin. 
1758.  Edwards  died. 


( 


i 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS. 


FIKST  PERIOD. 

THE  PARISH  MINISTER.    1703-1735. 
♦ 
I. 

CHILDHOOD.  —  EARLY   LIFE.  —  NOTES   ON   THE 

MIND. 

Jonathan  Edwards  was  born  October  5,  1703, 
in  tlie  town  of  East  Windsor,  Connecticut.  His 
father's  family  is  said  to  be  Welsh  in  its  origin. 
The  earliest  known  ancestor  was  a  clergyman  of 
the  Church  of  England,  whose  widow,  having  re- 
married, emigrated  to  this  country  with  her  son, 
William  Edwards,  about  1640.  The  son  of  WH- 
liam  was  Richard  Edwards,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  a 
prosperous  merchant,  who  also  sustained  a  high 
religious  character.  His  oldest  son,  Timothy,  the 
father  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  was  born  in  1669, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1691.  He 
received  the  two  degrees  of  bachelor  and  master  of 
arts  on  the  same  day,  — "  an  uncommon  mark  of 
respect  paid  to  his  extraordinary  proficiency  in 
learning."  Having  finished  his  preparatory  theo- 
logical studies,  he  was  ordained  "  to  the  ministry 


2  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

of  the  Gospel "  in  the  East  Parish  of  Windsor  in 
1694.  In  the  same  year  he  was  married  to  Esther 
Stoddard,  a  daughter  of  the  celebrated  Solomon 
Stoddard,  minister  of  the  church  in  Northampton. 

Edwards'  father  was  regarded  as  a  man  of  more 
than  usual  scholarship  and  learning.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  preparatory  schools  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  fitting  students  for  college,  and  had  gained  the 
reputation  of  a  successful  teacher.  He  gave  to 
his  daughters  the  same  training  with  the  young 
men  who  studied  under  his  care  ;  and  if  the  latter 
went  to  college,  the  girls  were  sent  to  Boston  to 
finish  their  education.  For  over  sixty  years  Timo- 
othy  Edwards  maintained  himself  in  good  rej)ute 
with  his  congregation.  As  a  preacher,  it  is  said 
that  his  people  gave  him  the  credit  of  learning  and 
animation,  while  for  his  son  Jonathan  they  reserved 
the  epithet  "  profound."  The  father  is  spoken  of 
as  a  man  of  "  polished  manners,  particularly  atten- 
tive to  his  dress  and  to  projjriety  of  exterior,  never 
appearing  in  public  but  in  the  full  dress  of  a  cler- 
gyman." The  details  of  domestic  affairs  he  rele- 
gated to  his  wife,  in  order  that  he  might  occupy 
himself  with  his  studies. 

But  to  his  mother  Jonathan  Edwards  was 
chiefly  indebted  for  his  intellectual  inheritance. 
She  is  said  to  have  received  a  superior  education 
in  Boston.  She  is  described  as  "tall,  dignified, 
and  commanding  in  appearance,  affable  and  gentle 
in  her  manner,  and  regarded  as  surpassing  her 
husband  in  native  vigor  of  understanding."     Re- 


INTELLECTUAL  PRECOCITY.  3 

markable  judgment  and  prudence,  extensive  infor- 
mation, thorougli  knowledge  of  the  Serijjtures  and 
of  theology,  singidar  conscientiousness  and  piety, 
—  these  are  virtues  attributed  to  the  mother  which 
reappear  in  the  son.  These  also  came  as  if  by 
natural  descent  to  a  daughter  of  Solomon  Stod- 
dard. That  she  did  not  "  join  the  church  "  until 
her  son  was  twelve  years  old,  is  a  circiunstance 
which  points  to  an  intellectual  independence  which 
no  amount  of  precedent  or  prestige  could  intimi- 
date. In  this  mental  characteristic  the  son  resem- 
bled his  mother. 

Jonathan  Edwards  was  the  fifth  child  and  the 
only  son  in  a  family  of  eleven  children.  He  was 
educated  with  his  sisters,  the  older  daughters  as- 
sisting the  father  in  the  superintendence  of  his 
studies.  A  few  of  his  letters  remain,  written  wdiile 
he  was  a  boy,  but  they  disclose  little  of  his  char- 
acter. He  appears  as  docile  and  receptive,  an 
affectionate  and  sensitive  nature,  responding 
quicldy  and  very  deeply  to  the  influences  of  his 
childhood.  He  was  interested  in  his  studies,  ambi- 
tious to  excel,  and  particularly  a  keen  observer  of 
the  mysteries  of  the  outward  world  and  eager  to 
discern  its  laws.  Everything  points  to  him  as  a 
child  of  rare  intellectual  precocity.  When  not 
mo^'e  than  twelve  years  old  he  wrote  a  letter  in  a 
bantering  style  refuting  the  idea  of  the  material- 
ity of  the  sold.  At  about  the  same  age  he  wrote 
an  elaborate  and  instructive  account  of  the  habits 
of  the  field  spider,  based  upon  his  ow^n  observa- 


4  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

tion.  He  was  not  quite  thirteen  when  he  entered 
Yale  College,  then  in  an  inchoate  condition  and 
not  yet  fixed  in  a  permanent  home.  The  course 
of  instruction  at  this  time  must  have  been  a  broken 
and  imperfect  one.  Such  as  it  was,  Edwards  fol- 
lowed it  faithfully,  now  at  New  Haven  and  then 
at  Wethersfield,  whither  a  part  of  the  students 
emigrated  in  consequence  of  some  disturbance  in 
which  he  seems  to  have  shared.  A  letter  to  his 
father  from  the  rector  of  the  college  speaks  of  his 
"  promising  abilities  and  great  advances  in  learn- 
ing." He  was  not  quite  seventeen  when  he  grad- 
uated, taking  with  his  degree  the  highest  honors 
the  institution  could  offer. 

One  characteristic  of  Edwards  as  a  student, 
which  he  retained  through  life,  was  the  habit  of 
writing  as  a  means  of  mental  culture.  An  inward 
necessity  compelled  him  also  to  give  expression  to 
his  thought.  He  began  while  in  college  to  arrange 
his  thoughts  in  orderly  fashion,  classifying  his 
manuscripts  or  note-books  under  the  titles  of  The 
Mind,  Natural  Science,  The  Scriptures,  with  a 
fourth  collection  called  Miscellanies.  Even  at  this 
early  age,  somewhere  between  the  years  of  four- 
teen and  seventeen,  he  was  projecting  a  great  trea- 
tise, which  he  proposed  to  publish.  The  Notes  on 
the  Mind  and  on  Natural  Science  are  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  materials  he  was  enthusiastically 
collecting  for  a  work  intended  to  embrace  almost 
the  entire  scope  of  human  learning.  He  carefully 
wrote  out  the  rules  which  were  to  guide  him  in  its 


INFLUENCE   OF  LOCKE.  5 

composition.  Thoughts  were  ah'eacly  stirring  with- 
in liim  which  he  felt  would  awaken  opposition. 
In  his  rules  for  guidance  he  appears  as  if  pre- 
paring to  besiege  the  fortress  of  pubUc  opinion, 
and  must  be  cautious  lest  his  attempt  should  end 
in  defeat. 

The  intellectual  impulse  came  from  the  philoso- 
phy of  Locke,  whose  Essay  on  the  Human  Under- 
standing Edwards  read  when  he  was  but  fourteen 
years  old.  The  impression  it  left  upon  his  mind 
was  a  deep  and  in  some  respects  an  abiding  one. 
But  even  in  his  early  adherence  to  the  sensational 
philosophy  he  was  still  hunseK,  independent,  ac- 
cepting or  rejecting  in  accordance  with  an  inward 
dictum  which  sprang  from  the  depth  of  his  being. 
Locke  was  after  all  rather  the  occasion  than  the 
inspiring  cause  of  his  intellectual  activity.  Had 
he  read  Descartes  instead,  he  might  have  reached 
the  same  conclusion.  Although  Edwards  came  to 
his  intellectual  maturity  before  his  religious  ex- 
perience had  developed  into  what  he  called  "  con- 
version," yet  his  intellect  was  bound  from  the  fii'st 
to  the  idea  of  God.  There  is  a  peculiar  charm  in 
these  early  manuscripts  written  loefore  his  theology 
had  received  its  final  stamp.  At  times  he  seems 
as  if  almost  losing  himseK  in  the  realm  of  pure 
speculation.  But  the  underlying  motive  in  his 
Notes  on  the  Mind  or  Natural  Science  is  theolog- 
ical, not  philosophical.  The  religious  impulse  may 
appear  as  fused  with  the  intellectual  activity,  yet 
it  is  always  there,  and  always  the  strongest  element 


6  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

in  his  tlioug'lit.  Science  and  metaphysics  do  not 
interest  him  as  ends  in  themselves,  but  as  subordi- 
nated to  a  theological  purpose.  The  God  conscious- 
ness was  the  deepest  substratum  of  his  being,  — 
his  natural  heritage  from  Puritan  antecedents, 
coloring  or  qualifying  every  intellectual  conviction 
he  attained. 

We  turn,  then,  to  these  Notes  on  the  Mind,  in 
which  the  boy  is  seen  revelling  in  the  dawning 
sense  of  fresh  creative  power.  ^  The  point  which 
he  first  proceeds  to  elaborate  is  entitled  Excel- 
lency. Of  this  he  writes :  "  There  has  nothing 
been  more  without  a  definition  than  excellency, 
although  it  be  what  we  are  more  concerned  with 
than  anything  else  whatsoever.  Yea,  we  are  con- 
cerned with  nothing  else.  But  what  is  this  excel- 
lency ?  Wherein  is  one  thing  excellent  and  an- 
other evil,  one  beautifid  and  another  deformed?" 
In  answering  the  inquiry  he  accepted  the  current 

^  It  is  impossible  to  give  here  a  complete  summary  of  these 
Notes  on  the  Mind.  It  may  be  said  of  them  in  general  that  there 
is  hardly  a  speculative  principle  in  Edwards'  later  writings  which 
they  do  not  contain  in  its  germinal  form.  They  discuss  the  na- 
ture of  the  will  and  of  freedom,  abstract  and  innate  ideas :  there 
are  passages  which  imply  realism,  and  others  a  decided  nominal- 
ism. They  present  a  theory  of  causation  resembling  that  of  the 
late  Mr.  J.  S.  Mill,  and  anticipate  Hume's  law  of  the  association 
of  ideas.  The  Notes  on  Natural  Science,  if  written  as  is  supposed 
between  the  age  of  fourteen  and  sixteen,  present  Edwards  as  an 
intellectual  prodigy  which  has  no  parallel.  Tliey  indicate  a  mar- 
vellous insight  into  the  gaps  of  knowledge,  and  an  instructive  sense 
of  how  they  are  to  be  filled,  which  seems  like  prophetic  divination. 
Cf.  D wight.  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  53 ;  and  pp.  702-761,  where 
they  are  given  in  full. 


NOTES   ON  THE  MIND,  7 

statement  that  excellence  consists  in  harmony, 
symmetry,  or  proportion.  But  he  complains  of 
this  statement  as  affording  no  explanation.  What 
he  seeks  to  know  is,  why  proportion  is  more  excel- 
lent than  disproportion,  or  why  it  gives  greater 
pleasure  to  the  mind.  In  the  attempt  to  satisfy 
his  mind  on  this  point  he  was  led  to  sound  the 
depths  of  his  youthful  experience  in  order  to  reach 
some  ultimate  principle.  He  found  this  principle 
in  the  conviction  that  life  in*  itseK,  simple  exist- 
ence, is  the  highest  good,  and  therefore  the 
foundation  of  moral  excellence.  He  took  his 
stand  at  the  antipodes  of  pessimistic  schemes  or 
theories  of  the  universe.  He  is  at  the  furthest 
remove  from  the  tired  mood  of  Oriental  dream- 
ers, from  the  spirit  of  Buddhism  with  its  primary 
postidate  that  existence  is  an  evil.  He  represents 
the  concentrated  vitality  and  aggressiveness  of 
the  occidental  peoples,  —  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
in  particular,  of  which  he  was  a  consimunate 
flower  blossoming  in  a  new  world.  The  simple 
energy  and  potency  of  life  is  here  deified,  as  it 
were,  as  if  demanding  in  itseK  alone  supreme 
adoration.  He  argues  for  the  truth  of  this  prin- 
ciple, from  the  possession  of  a  deep  inward  con- 
viction. He  has  striven  in  vain  to  conceive  a  state 
of  nothingness.  The  very  attempt  to  realize  it  in 
his  mind  throws  him  into  confusion  and  convulsion. 
He  speaks  of  nothing  as  "  that  which  the  sleeping 
rocks  do  dream  of."  The  thought  of  the  possible 
annihilation  of  that  which  has  once  existed   fills 


8  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

Mm  with  horror.  Existence  then,  in  itself,  must 
be  the  highest  g'ood,  the  greatest  blessing. 

From  this  principle  he  proceeds  to  deduce  the 
conclusion  that  similarity,  proportion,  harmony, 
jDartake  of  the  nature  of  excellence,  since  they  are 
agreeable  to.  that  which  has  existence,  Tliese 
things  are  in  accordance  with  the  law  implanted  in 
our  being.  Beyond  this  statement  it  is  not  nec- 
essary to  go.  The  simple  gift  of  perception,  with 
which  intelligent  being  is  endowed,  is  in  itseK  a 
pleasure  and  a  blessing,  and  perception  is  pleased 
in  beholding  harmony  and  proportion  wherever  he 
looks.  All  beings  or  existences  appear  to  stand  in 
certain  relationships,  and  in  the  fulfilment  of  these 
relationsliips  lies  the  fulness  of  a  real  life.  What- 
ever contradicts  harmony,  or  weakens  or  contra- 
'dicts  relationships,  diminishes  the  fulness  of  exist- 
ence, and  approaches  the  state  of  nothingness, 
which  is  the  greatest  evil.  To  approve,  then,  of 
this  primary  law  of  one's  being  wliich  demands  the 
realization  of  harmony  and  j)roportion,  is  to  recog- 
nize the  principle  of  all  excellence. 

He  carries  the  argument  up  to  the  divine  exist- 
ence. God  is  excellent  simply  because  He  exists, 
for  "  existence  is  that  into  which  all  excellence  is 
to  be  resolved."  Because  God  has  an  infinite 
amount  or  quantity  of  existence,  He  possesses  in 
consequence  an  infinite  excellence.  The  physical 
and  the  sjiiritual  are  here  merged  into  one.  In 
proportion  to  the  dimensions  of  existence  is  the 
quantity  of  excellence.     God,  by  the  mere  reason 


NATURE   OF  EXCELLENCE.  9 

of  His  greatness,  is  the  more  excellent.  "It  is  im- 
possible that  God  should  be  otherwise  than  excel- 
lent, for  He  is  the  infinite,  universal,  and  all-com- 
prehending existence.  .  .  .  He  is  in  Himself,  if  I 
may  so  say,  an  infinite  quantity  of  existence."  So 
vast  and  preponderating  is  His  existence  that  when 
we  speak  of  existence  in  general,  it  is  enough  to 
think  of  Him.  "  In  comparison  with  Him,  all 
others  must  be  considered  as  nothing.  .  .  .  As  to 
bodies,  we  have  shown  in  another  place  that  they 
have  no  proper  being  of  their  own.  And  as  to 
spirits,  they  are  the  communications  of  the  Great 
Original  Spirit ;  and  doubtless,  in  metaphysical 
strictness  and  propriety  He  is,  and  there  is  none 
else.  .  .  .  All  excellence  and  beauty  is  derived 
from  Hhn  in  the  same  manner  as  all  being.  And 
all  other  excellence  is  in  strictness  only  a  shadow, 
of  His." 

The  supreme  law  of  existence  is  the  law  of  love. 
While  Deity  is  pleased  with  the  perception  of 
excellency  as  He  witnesses  existence  in  harmony 
with  existence  tliroughout  the  universe,  yet  the 
chief  happiness  of  God  lies  in  His  love,  or  His  con- 
sent to  His  own  infinite  existence.  Herein  lies  the 
difference  between  the  creature  and  the  creator, 
that,  if  the  creature  would  be  in  harmony  with  ex- 
istence, he  must  above  all  things  be  in  harmony 
with  God,  consenting  to  the  law  of  the  Divine  ex- 
istence, which  is  God's  love  for  Himself.  Love, 
therefore,  is  the  highest  excellency.  The  secret 
harmony  between  the  various  parts  of  the  universe 


10  THE   PARISH  MINISTER. 

is  only  an  image  of  mutual  love.  In  God  this 
essential  principle  operates  from  all  eternity,  as  in 
the  mutual  love  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  In 
the  Holy  Spirit  which  binds  together  the  Father 
and  the  Son  is  to  be  seen  God's  infinite  beauty,  or, 
in  the  writer's  abstract  expression,  God's  infinite 
consent  to  his  own  being,  which  is  being  in  gen- 
eral. The  love  of  God  to  the  creation  is  the  com- 
munication of  Himself  in  his  Spirit.  If  it  seems 
as  though  this  love  of  God  to  Himself  carried  too 
much  the  aspect  of  self-love,  we  must  remember 
that  "  this  love  includes  in  it,  or  rather  is  the  same 
as,  a  love  to  everything,  as  they  are  all  communi- 
cations of  Himself."  Under  the  influence  of  this 
principle  the  universe  is  transfigured  as  with  the 
light  of  divine  love. 

"  We  are  to  conceive  of  the  divine  excellence  as  in- 
finite general  love,  that  which  reaches  all,  proportion- 
ately with  perfect  purity  and  sweetness  ;  yea,  it  includes 
the  true  love  of  all  creatures,  for  that  is  His  spirit,  or, 
which  is  the  same  thing.  His  love.  And  if  we  take  no- 
tice, when  we  are  in  the  best  frames  meditating  on  the 
divine  excellence,  our  ideal  of  that  tranquillity  and 
peace  which  seems  to  be  overspread  and  cast  abroad  upon 
the  whole  earth  and  universe  naturally  dissolves  itself 
into  the  idea  of  a  general  love  and  delight  everywhere 
diffused."  1 

The  answer  to  the  inquiry  as  to  the  nature  of 
excellence  has  been  given  at  some  length  because 

1  Dwight,  Life,  etc.,  p.  701. 


GENIAL   OUTLOOK.  11 

of  its  importance,  and  because  it  is  apt  to  be  over- 
looked in  attempts  to  explain  the  genesis  of  Ed- 
wards' thougbt.  Dr.  Dwigbt,  wbo  edited  the 
Notes  on  the  Mind  from  the  original  manuscript, 
did  not  follow  the  order  of  time  in  which  they 
were  wi'itten,  and  has  placed  the  treatment  of  ex- 
cellence at  the  close  of  the  treatise,  although  it  is 
numbered  One,  and  was  therefore  the  first  sub- 
ject on  which  he  committed  his  views  to  writing, 
and  must  have  been  uppermost  in  his  mind.  The 
reflections  of  the  boy  of  sixteen  must  not  be  un- 
derrated as  if  they  were  immature,  or  as  if  they 
had  afterwards  disappeared  from  his  consciousness. 
When,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  he  wrote  his  dissertation 
on  The  Nature  of  True  Virtue,  he  reproduced  his 
early  conviction  with  no  substantial  change.  In 
later  years,  it  is  true,  the  genial  outlook  upon  the 
universe  which  marked  his  j^outh  is  no  longer 
maintained,  and  he  may  never  have  regained  the 
beautiful  vision  which  dawned  upon  the  first 
opening  of  his  mind.  The  devotion  to  a  moral 
ideal  had  its  dark  side,  which  came  into  an  exag- 
gerated prominence  during  the  time  of  his  pasto- 
ral activity.  But  beneath  the  mutations  of  his 
mental  history  may  still  be  traced  the  under- 
current of  his  youthful  conviction  that  moral 
excellence  must  be  grounded  in  God,  must  be 
identified  with  existence  itself,  in  order  that 
it  may  be  seen  as  the  only  reality  in  a  world  of 
shadows. 

In  his  treatment  of  excellence  Edwards  appears 


12  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

as  in  agreement  with  Plato's  conception  of  God  as 
the  idea  of  the  good.  There  is  also  in  his  tone  a 
still  stronger  reminder  of  Spinoza,  —  the  doctrine 
of  the  one  substance,  of  which  the  universe  is  the 
manifestation.  In  some  respects  also  he  approxi- 
mates in  these  Notes  on  the  Mind  to  the  famous 
doctrine  of  Malebranche  that  we  see  all  things  in 
God ;  as  when  it  is  emphatically  asserted  that 
"the  universe  exists  only  in  the  mind  of  God." 
Truth  is  defined  as  the  agreement  of  our  ideas 
with  existence^  or,  since  God  and  existence  are  the 
same,  as  the  agreement  of  our  ideas  with  the  ideas 
of  God.  Hence  it  may  be  said  that  God  is  truth 
itself.  Of  the  inspiration  which  prophets  had,  it 
is  remarked  that  it  was  in  a  sense  intuitive.  "  The 
prophet,  in  the  thing  which  he  sees,  has  a  clear 
view  of  its  perfect  agreement  with  the  excellencies 
of  the  divine  nature.  All  the  Deity  appears  in 
the  thing,  and  in  everything  pertaining  to  it.  .  .  . 
He  perceives  as  immediately  that  God  is  there  as 
we  perceive  one  another's  presence  when  we  are 
talking  face  to  face." 

With  views  like  these  of  God,  of  existence,  of 
truth,  it  is  not  surprising  that  Edwards  believed 
that  "corporeal  things  could  exist  no  otherwise 
than  mentally."  Among  the  earliest  statements 
in  the  Notes  on  the  Mind,  we  read :  "  Our  per- 
ceptions or  ideas,  that  we  passively  receive  by  our 
bodies,  are  communicated  to  us  immediately  by 
God."  Edwards  may  have  reached  this  conclu- 
sion by  combining  his  idea  of  God,  as  universal 


TRANSITION  TO  IDEALISM.  13 

existence,  with  the  principle  derived  from  Locke 
that  all  ideas  begin  from  external  sensation.  He 
emphatically  affirms  this  principle  when  he  says, 
"  There  never  can  be  any  idea,  thought,  or  act  of 
the  mind  unless  the  mind  first  received  some  ideas 
from  sensation,  or  some  other  way  equivalent 
wherein  the  mind  is  wholly  passive  in  receiving 
them."  ^  With  Edwards'  premises,  the  transition 
seems  an  easy  one  from  the  popular  belief  in  the 
externality  of  the  objects  of  our  senses  to  a  dis- 
belief in  the  existence  of  matter.  The  question 
which  he  was  asking  himself  was  one  which  Locke 
had  not  answered,  and  had  declared  himself  una- 
ble to  answer,  confessing  it  to  be  a  mystery,  — 
What  is  that  substance,  or  thing  in  itself,  concealed 
behind  attributes  and  qualities,  whose  existence  is 
revealed  by  perceptions  of  color  or  extension,  but 
which  cannot  be  resolved  into  these  qualities  ?  Is 
it  "  a  something,  we  know  not  what "  ?  Edwards 
refused  to  acquiesce  in  this  confession  of  an  im- 
personal and  unkno^\ai  something.  "  Men,"  he 
says,  "  are  wont  to  content  themselves  by  saying 
merely  that  it  is  something  ;  but  that  something  is 
He  in  whom  all  things  consist."  Sensations  pro- 
duced by  external  objects  are  thus  at  once  resolved 
into  ideas  coming  directly  to  the  mind  from  God. 
All  through  the  Notes  on  the  Mind,  phrases  like 
these  are  recurrino: :  "  Bodies  have  no  existence 
of  their  own."  "  All  existence  is  mental ;  the  ex- 
istence of  all  things  is  ideal."     "  The  brain  exists 

1  Dwight,  Life,  etc.,  Appendix,  p.  666. 


14  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

only  mentally,  or  in  idea."  "  Instead  of  matter 
being  the  only  proper  substance,  and  more  sub- 
stantial than  anything  else  because  it  is  hard  and 
solid,  yet  it  is  truly  nothing  at  all,  strictly  and  in 
itself  considered."  "  The  universe  exists  nowhere 
but  in  the  divine  mind."  The  popular  concep- 
tion of  space  is  gross  and  misleading.  "  Space 
is  necessary,  eternal,  infinite,  and  omnipresent. 
But  I  had  as  good  speak  plain.  I  have  already 
said  as  much  as  that  space  is  God."  And  to  give 
a  final  summary  of  the  whole  question  :  — 

"  And  indeed  the  secret  lies  here,  —  that  which 
truly  is  the  substance  of  all  bodies  is  the  infinitely 
exact  and  precise  and  perfectly  stable  Idea  in  God's 
mind,  together  with  His  stable  will  that  the  same  shall 
gradually  be  communicated  to  us,  and  to  other  minds, 
according  to  certain  fixed  and  exact  established  methods 
and  laws ;  or,  in  somewhat  different  language,  the  in- 
finitely exact  and  precise  Divine  Idea,  together  with  an 
answerable,  perfectly  exact,  precise,  and  stable  will,  with 
respect  to  correspondent  communications  to  created 
minds  and  effects  on  their  minds." 

One  cannot  read  this  extraordinary  production 
of  Edwards'  youth  without  noticing  its  numerous 
and  striking  coincidences  with  Berkeley's  system 
of  philosophic  idealism.  But  when  the  question  is 
raised  whether  he  had  read  Berkeley,  we  become 
aware  that  a  thick  veil  of  obscurity  rests  upon  these 
labors  of  his  early  years  which  we  strive  in  vain  to 
withdraw.  In  recent  years  there  has  grown  up 
what  may  be  regarded  as  a  history  of  opinion  on 


INDEBTEDNESS   TO  BERKELEY.  15 

this  difficult  point.  On  the  one  hand  it  is  main- 
tained, that  he  had  no  acquaintance  with  the  writ- 
ings of  Berkeley,^  and  that  it  is  not  necessary  to 
suppose  such  an  acquaintance  in  order  to  explain 
this  reproduction,  almost  complete,  of  a  philosophy 
which  is  identified  with  Berkeley's  name.^  On  the 
other  hand,  those  who  hold  that  Edwards  may  have 
read  Berkeley's  works  can  bring  no  direct  evidence 
to  substantiate  their  opinion.^  Berkeley's  earlier 
writings,  —  the  New  Theory  of  Vision,  the  Prin- 
ciples of  Human  Knowledge,  and  the  Dialogues, 
had  been  published  by  the  year  1713.  It  is  pos- 
sible, therefore,  that  they  may  have  reached  this 
country  before  1719,  when  Edwards  graduated  from 
Yale  College.  But  we  are  assured  on  good  author- 
ity that  "  there  is  no  evidence  that  a  copy  of  any 

^  This  is  the  view  of  Dr.  Dwig^ht,  in  his  careful  Life  of  Ed- 
wards^ p.  40. 

2  Professor  Noah  Porter,  D.  D. ,  ^  Discourse  at  Yale  College  on 
the  200<A  Birthday  of  Bishop  Berkeley,  1885.  "Surrounded  as  it 
were  by  similar  logical  and  spiritual  impulses,  Jonathan  Edwards 
drew  the  same  conclusions  as  Berkeley  had  done,  from  the  same 
data  in  Locke's  Essays,  p.  71."  So  also  Professor  M.  C.  Tyler  in 
History  of  American  Literature,  ii.  p.  183:  "The  peculiar  opin- 
ions which  Edwards  held  in  common  -with  Berkeley  were  reached 
by  him  through  an  independent  process  of  reasoning,  and  some- 
what in  the  same  way  that  they  were  reached  by  Berkeley." 

^  Professor  Eraser,  the  biographer  of  Berkeley  and  editor  of 
his  complete  works,  first  advanced  the  opinion  that  Edwards  was 
indebted  to  Berkeley.  Professor  Fisher,  of  Yale  College,  also 
thinks  it  not  improbable  that  copies  of  Berkeley's  works  had 
come  into  Edwards'  hands,  and  found  in  him  an  eager  and  con- 
genial disciple.  Cf.  Dicussions  in  History  and  Philosophy,  p. 
231. 


16  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

of  these  works  referred  to  was  known  at  the  col- 
lege, and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  were 
not  then  accessible."  ^  We  seem  to  come  near 
finding  the  missing  link  in  the  fact  that  Dr.  Sam- 
uel Johnson,  afterwards  President  of  King's  Col- 
lege, New  York,  a  personal  friend  of  Berkeley  and 
an  ardent  follower  of  his  teaching,  was  a  tutor  at 
Yale  College  while  Edwards  was  a  student.  But 
the  conjecture  that  Edwards  may  have  become 
acquainted  with  Berkeleyanism  through  Johnson 
fails  us  when  it  is  put  to  the  test.  For  Edwards 
was  at  Wethersfield  while  Johnson  remained  at 
New  Haven,  and  was  among  those  disaffected  to- 
ward Johnson  as  a  tutor .^  Nor  is  there  any  evi- 
dence that  Johnson  was  at  this  time  acquainted 
with  Berkeley's  writings.^  A  recent  writer  has 
suggested  another  explanation,  which  deserves  at- 
tention, —  that  the  Notes  on  the  Mind  were  writ- 
ten later  than  Dr.  Dwight,  the  biographer  of  Ed- 

1  Professor  Porter,  Historical  Discourse,  etc.,  on  Berkeley, 
p.  71. 

2  Professor  Fisher,  Discussions,  etc.,  p.  231. 

^  Professor  Porter  remarks :  ' '  Dr.  Johnson  is  said  to  have  first 
become  interested  in  Berkeley's  idealism  when  he  went  to  Eng- 
land in  1723  for  episcopal  ordination."  Discourse,  etc.,  p.  71. 
Dr.  E.  E.  Beardsley,  in  his  Life  of  Johnson,  throws  no  light  on  the 
time  when  Johnson  first  became  a  disciple  of  Berkeley.  But  he 
thinks  the  Berkeleyan  philosophy  had  been  heard  of  at  Yale  so 
early  as  1714,  when  Johnson  graduated  ;  —  "  Something  had  been 
heard  of  a  new  philosophy  that  was  attracting  attention  in  Eng- 
land ;  but  the  young  men  were  cautioned  against  receiving  it, 
and  told  that  it  would  corrupt  the  pure  religion  of  the  country 
and  bring  in  another  system  of  divinity,"  p.  5. 


EDWARDS  AND  BERKELEY.  17 

wards,  supposes.^  The  chief  evidence  on  which 
Dr.  D wight  relied  to  fix  their  date  is  the  pecu- 
liarity of  Edwards'  handwriting,  which  in  youth 
was  round  and  legible,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty 
became  angidar  and  less  distinct.  But  this  is 
surely  slender  evidence  on  which  to  build  an  im- 
portant conclusion.  Only  a  careful  reediting  of 
the  manuscripts  could  determine  this  point.  If 
the  Notes  on  the  Mind,  begun  while  Edwards  was 
in  college,  were  continued  for  several  years  after 
he  left  college,  this  might  give  the  desired  time  or 
opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with  Berkeley's 
^vritings.  There  is  e\ddence,  indeed,  that  so  late 
as  1725,  when  he  had  reached  the  age  of  twenty- 
two,  his  mind  was  still  working  in  the  direction 
toward  which  the  reading  of  Locke  had  impelled 

1  Georges  Lyon,  VIdealisme  en  Angleterre  au  XVIIF  Steele, 
Paris,  1888,  pp.  430,  431.  M.  Lyon  also  offers  the  sug-gestive 
hint  that  Edwards  may  have  had  some  knowledge  of  Male- 
branche,  either  directly  or  through  his  English  interpreters. 
Edwards'  affinity  with  Malebranche  is  closer  than  with  Berkeley. 
There  is  a  divergence  between  Edwards  and  Berkeley  on  the  im- 
portant principle  of  causation,  which  shows  that  some  motive  was 
influential  with  the  American  youth  which  did  not  operate  with 
Berkeley.  Berkeley  also  denounces  as  absurd  the  statement  to 
which  Edwards  assents,  that  space  is  God.  Cf.  Principles  of 
Human  Knowledge,  London  ed.,  1820,  i.  p.  34.  It  is  possible  that 
Edwards  may  have  had  a  knowledge  of  Malebranche,  for  two 
translations  of  the  Recherche  de  la  Verite'  had  been  published  in 
England  so  early  as  1694.  By  1704  had  also  appeared  Norris' 
Theory  of  an  Ideal  World,  in  which  Malebranche  was  worked  up 
by  an  English  mind.  It  would  explain  Edwards'  transition  from 
Locke  if  he  had  seen  these  works.  M.  Lyon's  interesting  and 
valuable  work  contains  a  fresh  study  of  Edwards,  and  puts  his 
philosophy  in  a  clear  light. 


18  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

liim,  and  was  still  imdetermined  whether  to  push 
the  doctrine  of  Berkeley  to  a  further  conclusion. 
"  The  very  thing  I  now  want,"  he  writes  in  his  Jour- 
nal for  February  12,  1725,  "  to  give  me  a  clearer 
and  more  immediate  view  of  the  perfections  and 
glory  of  God,  is  as  cleai^  a  knowledge  of  the  man- 
ner of  God's  exerting  Himself  with  respect  to  spirit 
and  mind  as  I  have  of  His  operations  concerning 
matter  and  bodies."  When  Edwards  wrote  this 
sentence  he  was  about  ready  to  abandon  philoso- 
phy, and  turn  to  theology  as  the  more  congenial 
study.  He  gives  no  intimation  of  the  conclusion 
he  reached  on  this  vital  issue.  But  even  then  he 
must  have  inclined  to  regard  the  relation  of  God 
in  each  case  as  the  same.  Beyond  that  j)oint  his 
speculations  did  not  go. 

It  seems  on  the  whole  a  reasonable  conclusion 
that  the  Notes  on  the  Mind  were,  some  of  them 
at  least,  written  later  than  is  generally  supposed. 
It  is  also  easier  and  more  natural  to  think  that 
Edwards  had  some  knowledge  of  Berkeley's  writ- 
ings. The  reading  of  the  Notes  gives  the  impres- 
sion that  he  is  stepping  into  a  heritage  of  thought 
rather  than  discovering  principles  for  the  first 
time.  He  seems  to  be  more  concerned  also  with 
the  application  of  the  new  doctrine  than  with  its 
demonstration  or  exposition.  But  if  we  adopt  this 
opinion  that  Edwards  was  acquainted  with  Berke- 
ley's thought,  we  have  raised  another  and  a  grave 
difficulty.  Why  is  he  silent  on  the  name  of  Berke- 
ley, making  no   mention  of  him  anywhere  in  liis 


ABANDONMENT  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  19 

works  ?  He  paid  an  ample  tribute  to  Locke,  but 
if  lie  bad  read  Berkeley  lie  must  bave  known  tbat 
tliere  lay  tbe  greater  indebtedness.  He  certainly 
could  not  have  remained  io*norant  tbroug-bout  bis 
life  of  tbe  nature  of  Berkeley's  teaching,  and  bow 
closely  bis  youthful  speculation  bad  followed  him. 
There  is  a  difficulty  and  a  mystery  here  upon 
which  little  or  no  light  is  thrown  by  Edwards' 
biogTapbers.  Surmise,  suspicion,  tentative  hypoth- 
eses might  be  offered,  but  there  is  no  space  for 
their  discussion.  The  manuscripts  of  Edwards,  if 
carefully  reedited,  might  give  the  desired  informa- 
tion. The  soul  of  this  marvellous  boy  went  through 
great  changes  and  perturbations  of  thought  of 
which  there  is  no  published  record.^  At  some 
moment  he  deliberately  turned  bis  back  upon  phi- 
losophy, when,  if  be  bad  chosen  to  pursue  it,  it 
seems  as  if  be  could  scarce  have  had  his  equal. 
He  not  only  turned  away  from  it,  but  he  accus- 
tomed himself  to  speak  of  it  in  the  underrating 
manner  of  the  popular  preacher.  Perhaps  phi- 
losophy had  been  to  him  as  the  scaffolding  to  the 

^  Frank  as  these  early  writings  of  Edwards  may  seem,  they 
contain  intimations  of  a  reserved  and  even  secretive  tempera- 
ment. He  has  recourse  now  and  then  to  shorthand,  in  which  he 
buried  in  oblivion  his  most  intimate  thought  or  feeling.  He 
charges  himself  not  to  allow  it  to  appear  as  if  he  were  familiar 
with  books  or  conversant  with  the  learned  world.  He  seems  to 
feel  that  he  has  a  secret  teaching  which  will  create  opposition 
when  revealed,  and  clash  with  the  prejudices  and  fashion  of  the 
age.  On  one  occasion,  after  writing  in  shorthand,  he  concludes 
with  the  remark,  "  Remember  to  act  according  to  Proverbs  xii. 
23,  —  A  prudent  man  concealeth  knowledge.'' ' 


20  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

real  structure,  a  thing  to  be  removed  from  sight 
when  it  had  served  its  purpose. 

It  may  have  been  a  reason  why  Edwards  aban- 
doned his  project  of  publishing  a  treatise  on  the 
human  mind  that  he  felt  it  would  be  unwise,  in  a 
practical  and  cautious  age,  to  unsettle  the  minds 
of  men  by  remote  speculations  which  only  the  few 
could  appreciate,  which  to  the  majority  must  seem 
fantastic  and  absurd.  In  his  Notes,  after  dwelling 
upon  the  statement  that  the  brain  exists  only  in 
idea,  he  confesses  :  "  We  have  got  so  far  beyond 
those  things  for  which  language  was  chiefly  con- 
trived that,  unless  we  use  extreme  caution,  we  can- 
not speak,  unless  we  speak  unintelligibly,  without 
literally  contradicting  ourselves."  But  he  also 
comes  to  the  satisfactory  conclusion  that,  although 
the  external  world  is  immaterial  and  the  universe 
exists  no  where  but  in  the  mind,  "  yet  we  may  speak 
in  the  old  way,  and  as  properly  and  as  truly  as  ever. 
.  .  .  Although  the  place  of  bodies  means  only  the 
possibility  of  mutual  communications,  and  space  is 
God,  yet  the  language  of  Scripture  is  not  improper 
which  speaks  of  God  as  in  heaven  and  we  upon  the 
earth,  or  of  God's  indwelling  in  the  hearts  of  His 
people." 

It  may  have  been  also  that  Edwards  perceived 
deep  incongruities  and  contradiction  in  the  depth 
of  his  soul,  which  he  felt  himeK  unable  to  reconcile. 
One  ruling  principle  of  his  career  as  a  practical 
theologian  was  the  Angus tinian  idea  of  God  as 
absolute  and  arbitrary  will.     But  this  conception 


SPINOZA   AND  AUGUSTINE.  21 

finds  only  a  faint  expression  in  The  Notes  on  the 
Mind,  and  indeed  was  not  his  conscious  posses- 
sion until  he  had  experienced  what  is  known  as 
conversion.  Before  that  crisis  in  his  life,  he  con- 
ceives of  God  as  Plato,  or  Spinoza,  or  Hegel  had 
done,  —  the  idea  of  the  good,  the  one  substance, 
the  absolute  thought  unfolding  itself  or  embodying 
itseK  in  a  visible  and  glorious  order.  And  indeed 
these  remained  the  poles  of  Edwards'  thought 
throughout  his  life,  —  Spinozism  on  the  one  hand, 
Augustinianism  on  the  other.  Like  Augustine,  he 
abandoned  philosophy  for  the  absorbing  devotion 
to  Divine  and  arbitrary  will,  which  better  suited  his 
practical  career  as  a  reformer,  concerned  mainly 
with  the  well-being  of  the  churches.  But  the 
other  element  of  his  thought,  though  subordinated, 
was  not  annihilated.  It  appears  in  all  his  writings, 
—  an  element  seemingly  incongruous,  and  difficult 
to  reconcile  with  his  other  teaching.  It  reappeared 
in  his  later  years  with  something  of  the  beauty 
which  had  fascinated  the  vision  of  his  youth. 


II. 

RESOLUTIONS,    DIARY,    CONVERSION. 

The  call  of  Edwards  was  not  to  metaphysical 
studies  or  to  natural  science,  great  as  was  the  pro- 
ficiency he  showed  in  each.  It  was  in  the  sphere 
of  religion  and  the  inner  life  of  the  spirit  that  his 
distinctive  quality  was  most  clearly  revealed.     To 


22  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

the  life  of  tlie  spirit  he  was  anointed  from  Ms 
birth.  Born  and  brought  up  in  a  typical  Puritan 
household  where  religion  wa§  the  very  atmosphere 
and  the  church  the  leading  interest  in  life,  he  did 
not  react  from  the  severity  or  narrowness  of  his 
training.  His  conversion  may  be  said  to  begin 
with  the  dawn  of  consciousness,  if  it  did  not  begin 
before  his  birth.  From  a  very  early  period  he 
showed  susceptibility  to  religious  impressions.  He 
was  accustomed  as  a  child  to  go  by  himself  to  se- 
cret places  in  the  woods  for  the  purpose  of  prayer, 
and  was  wont  to  be  greatly  affected.  His  father's 
parish  was  the  scene  of  occasional  "  attentions  to 
religion,"  as  they  were  called ;  and  of  these,  while 
yet  a  boy,  he  speaks  as  if  they  involved  the  only 
realities  of  life.  He  was  the  subject  of  no  sensuous 
religious  influences  such  as  might  appeal  to  a  child- 
ish imagination,  —  no  dim  religious  light  from 
windows  filled  with  glorious  color,  no  long-drawn 
aisles  culminating  in  the  mystery  of  the  altar,  no 
rich  involutions  of  musical  harmony,  no  accompani- 
ment of  the  rolling  organ,  no  inspiration  from  an 
imposing  architecture.  For  some  reason  the  plain 
meetino-house  at  East  Windsor  was  unfinished  in 
Edwards'  boyhood.  Not  even  seats  were  provided 
for  the  worshippers,  who  were  driven  to  accommo- 
date themselves  on  sills  and  sleepers.  And  yet 
never  was  a  child  imbibing  deeper  reverence  for 
spiritual  things.  His  soul  revelled  in  the  mystery 
of  the  Divine  existence  ;  and  he  grew  into  the 
knowledge  of  the  majesty  and  the  glory  of  God. 


SPIRITUAL  CONFLICTS.  23 

No  exact  date  can  be  fixed  for  his  conversion ; 
even  tlie  time  wlien  lie  "  joined  the  church  "  is  un- 
known. But  we  know  the  years  in  which  he  was 
passing  through  the  spiritual  struggles  out  of 
which  he  was  to  emerge  a  man  of  God,  recognizing 
the  call  of  God  and  answering  it  with  the  entire 
devotion  of  his  will.  This  period  of  conflict,  of 
aspiration,  of  resolution,  and  of  consecration  fol- 
lows upon  his  graduation  from  college  in  1719  at 
the  age  of  sixteen.  For  two  years  he  remained  at 
New  Haven,  in  order,  as  was  then  the  custom,  to 
carry  on  his  theological  studies.  He  was  then 
called  to  New  York  to  take  charge  of  a  Presbyte- 
rian church  newly  organized,  where  he  remained 
for  eight  months,  preaching  to  the  acceptance  of 
the  congregation  and  leaving  them  with  reluctance. 
Returning  to  his  father's  house,  he  was  soon  after 
made  a  tutor  in  Yale  College,  an  office  which  he 
held  for  two  years  (1724-1726),  helping  to  over- 
come the  shock  to  the  coUege  and  the  community 
caused  by  the  secession  of  its  rector  Mr.  Cutler, 
Mr.  Johnson  one  of  its  tutors,  and  others  to  the 
Episcopal  Church.  He  was,  says  Dr.  Stiles,  one  of 
the  pillar  tutors^  and  the  glory  of  the  college  at 
this  critical  period.  His  tutorial  renown  was  great 
and  excellent.  He  filled  and  sustained  his  office 
with  great  ability,  dignity,  and  honor.  "  For  the 
honor  of  literature  these  thinos  ou^ht  not  to  be 
forgotten." 

From  1720  to  1726,  from  the  age  of  seventeen 
to  the  age  of  twenty-three,  runs  the  period  during 


24  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

which  he  wrote  his  Resohitions  and  the  greater 
j)art  of  liis  religious  Diary.  These  are  no  ordi- 
nary resohitions,  and  this  is  no  common  diary.  It 
is,  when  we  read  them,  as  if  we  stood  behind  the 
veil  witnessing  the  evolution  of  a  great  soul.  Like 
Luther,  he  appears  as  in  search  for  some  high  end, 
of  whose  nature  he  is  not  clearly  conscious.  But 
he  will  be  content  with  nothing  but  the  highest  re- 
sult which  it  is  open  to  man  to  achieve,  or  for  God 
of  his^race  to  imj^art.  Referring  to  this  period  of 
his  life  some  twenty  years  later,  he  remarks,  "I 
made  seeking  my  salvation  the  main  business  of 
my  life."  What  was  it  exactly  for  which  he  was 
in  search  ?  In  some  respects  his  experience  is  like 
that  of  all  spiritual  minds.  And  yet  there  are  fine 
shades  of  distinction  in  these  records  of  religious 
conflict  which  are  worth  discriminating.  Luther 
labored  for  the  assurance  of  divine  forgiveness ; 
Edwards,  for  the  vision  of  the  divine  glory,  for  the 
assurance  of  his  oneness  in  spirit  with  the  ineffable 
holiness  and  majesty  of  God.  We  may  trace  in 
his  experience  the  unmistakable  marks  of  the  mys- 
tic in  every  age,  —  union  with  God,  absorption  as 
it  were  into  the  inmost  essence  of  the  divine.  He 
•finds  expression  in  the  intense  language  of  the 
Psalmist :  "  My  soul  hreaketh  for  the  longing  it 
hath ;  my  soul  waiteth  for  the  Lord^  more  than 
they  vaho  watch  for  the  morning.'''' 

The  seeking  and  the  waiting  were  at  last  re- 
warded. He  was  reading  one  day  the  wprds  of 
Scripture,  "  Now  unto  the  King  eternal,  immortal, 


MYSTIC  RAPTURES.  25 

invisible,  the  only  wise  God,  be  honor  and  glory 
forever,  Amen,"  when  there  came  to  him  for  the 
first  time  a  sort  of  inward,  sweet  delight  in  God 
and  divine  things.  A  sense  of  the  divine  glory 
was,  as  it  were,  diffused  through  him.  He  thought 
how  happy  he  should  be  if  he  might  be  rapt  up  to 
God  in  heaven,  and  be,  as  it  were,  swallowed  up  in 
him  forever.  He  began  to  have  an  inward,  sweet 
sense  of  Christ  and  the  work  of  redemption.  The 
Book  of  Canticles  attracted  him  as  a  fit  expression 
for  his  mood.  It  seemed  to  him  as  if  he  were  in 
a  kind  of  vision,  alone  in  the  mountains  or  some 
solitary  wilderness,  conversing  sweetly  with  Christ 
and  wrapt  and  swallowed  up  in  God.  He  told  liis 
father  the  things  he  was  experiencing,  and  was  af- 
fected by  the  discourse  they  had  together.  Walk- 
ing once  in  at  solitary  place  in  his  father's  pasture, 
there  came  to  him  again  a  sweet  sense  of  the  con- 
junction of  the  majesty  and  the  grace  of  God. 

"  After  this  my  sense  of  divine  things  gradually  in- 
creased and  became  more  and  more  lively,  and  had  more 
of  that  inward  sweetness.  The  appearance  of  every- 
thing altered :  there  seemed  to  be,  as  it  were,  a  calm, 
sweet  cast  or  appearance  of  divine  glory  in  almost  every- 
thing. God's  excellency,  his  wisdom,  his  purity  and 
love,  seemed  to  appear  in  everything,  — in  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars  ;  in  clouds  and  blue  sky  ;  in  the  grass,  flowers, 
trees  ;  in  the  water  and  all  nature,  which  used  greatly 
to  fix  my  mind.  I  often  used  to  sit  and  view  the  moon 
for  continuance,  and  in  the  day  spent  much  time  in^view- 
ing  the  clouds  and  sky,  to  behold  the  sweet  glory  of  God 

A 


26  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

in  these  things ;  in  the  mean  time  singing  forth,  with  a 
low  voice,  my  contemplations  of  the  Creator  and  Re- 
deemer. .  .  .  Before,  I  used  to  be  uncommonly  terrified 
with  thunder,  and  to  be  struck  with  terror  when  I  saw  a 
thunder-storm  arising ;  but  now,  on  the  contrary,  it  re- 
joiced me.  I  felt  God,  so  to  speak,  at  the  first  appear- 
ance of  a  thunder-storm ;  and  used  to  take  the  oppor- 
tunity, at  such  times,  to  fix  myself  in  order  to  view  the 
clouds  and  see  the  lightnings  play,  and  hear  the  majes- 
tic and  awful  voice  of  God's  thunder,  which  oftentimes 
was  exceedingly  entertaining,  leading  me  to  sweet  con- 
templations of  my  great  and  glorious  God.  ...  I  some- 
times said  to  myself  I  do  certainly  know  that  I  love 
holiness ;  it  appeared  to  me  that  there  was  nothing  in  it 
but  what  was  ravishingly  lovely,  the  highest  beauty  and 
amiableness,  —  a  divine  beauty,  far  purer  than  anything 
upon  earth.  .  .  .  The  soul  of  a  true  Christian  appeared 
like  a  little  white  flower  as  we  see  in  the  opening  of  the 
year ;  low  and  humble  on  the  ground,  opening  its  bosom 
to  receive  the  pleasant  beams  of  the  sun's  glory  ;  rejoic- 
ing as  it  were  in  a  calm  rapture,  diffusing  around  a 
sweet  fragrancy  ;  standing  peacefully  and  lovingly  in  the 
midst  of  other  flowers  round  about,  all  in  like  manner 
opening  their  bosoms  to  drink  in  the  light  of  the  sun." 

This  spiritual  and.  mystic  rapture  does  not  end 
in  words  or  in  emotion.  The  first  thing  which  he 
does  is  to  write  out  Resolutions  for  the  government 
of  his  conduct.  He  proceeds  at  once  to  sketch  the 
conception  of  a  perfect  character.  The  moral  ideal 
springs  up  spontaneously  within  him.  The  Reso- 
lutions express  the  essence  of  a  virginal  soul,  —  the 
desire  for  the  divine  image  in  the  soul  of  man. 


THE  MORAL  IDEAL.  27 

The  germ  of  Edwards*  theology  is  also  apparent 
here,  which,  conceiving  the  will  as  predominant  in 
God,  conceives  man  also  as  an  answering  will,  aim- 
ing to  renounce  itseK  in  God  ;  but  it  is  a  coming 
to  the  knowledge  of  God  which  evokes  the  process, 
which  forces  him  to  ask  what  are  the  actions,  what 
the  character,  which  alone  correspond  with  the 
privilege  of  one  who  has  been  admitted  into  the 
inner  shrine  of  the  divine  glory. 

"  On  January  12,  1723,  I  made  a  solemn  dedication 
of  myself  to  God  and  wrote  it  down ;  giving  up  myself 
and  all  that  I  had  to  God,  to  be  for  the  future  in  no 
respect  my  own ;  to  act  as  one  that  had  no  right  to  him- 
self in  any  respect ;  and  solemnly  vowed  to  take  God 
for  my  whole  portion  and  felicity,  looking  on  nothing 
else  as  any  part  oi  my  happiness,  nor  acting  as  if  it  were  ; 
and  his  law  for  the  constant  rule  of  my  obedience,  en- 
gaging to  fight  with  all  my  might  against  the  world,  the 
flesh,  and  the  devU,  to  the  end  of  my  life." 

In  accordance  with  this  renunciation  of  self, 
Edwards  resolves,  in  the  first  place,  always  to  do 
whatever  he  thinks  is  most  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  his  own  good,  without  consideration  of  the 
time,  whether  now  or  never  so  many  myriads  of 
ages  hence ;  no  matter  how  great  or  how  many 
the  difficulties  he  meets  with,  to  do  his  duty  and 
what  is  most  for  the  good  of  mankind  in  general. 
He  is  never  to  lose  a  moment  of  time,  to  live  while 
he  lives  with  all  liis  might.  He  will  do  nothing 
out  of  revenge,  nor  suffer  anger  toward  irrational 
beings,  nor  speak  evil  of  any  one  unless  to  accom- 


28  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

plish  some  real  good.  He  must  maintain  the 
strictest  temj^erance  in  eating  and  drinking,  be 
faithful  to  every  trust,  do  always  what  he  can  to- 
ward making  or  preserving  peace,  and  in  narra- 
tions never  speak  anything  but  pure  and  simple 
verity.     He  is  to  c^iltivate  also  a  temper  which  is 

^  good  and  sweet  and  benevolent  to  all,  quiet  and 
peccable,  contented  and  easy,  compassionate  and 

.  generous,  humble  and  meek,  submissive  and  oblig- 
ing, charitable  and  even,  patient,  moderate,  forgiv- 
ing, and  sincere.  In  order  to  a  completer  victory 
over  all  evil  in  himself,  he  will  take  it  for  granted 
that  no  one  is  so  evil  as  himself ;  he  will  identify 
himself  with  all  other  men,  and  act  as  if  their  evil 
was  his  own,  as  if  he  had  committed  the  same  sins 
and  had  the  same  infirmities,  so  that  the  knowledge 
of  their  failings  will  promote  in  him  nothing  but 
a  sense  of  shame.  It  shall  be  a  rule  with  him 
never  to  do  anything  which  he  should  condemn  as 
wrong  in  others.  Whenever  he  does  any  conspic- 
uously evil  action,  he  determines  to  trace  it  back 
to  its  source,  in  order  to  more  successfully  over- 
coming it.  Mingled  with  these  res()lutions  are 
others  of  a  more  specific  and  local  to^e.  He  re- 
solves never  to  utter  anything  that  is  sportive  or  a 
matter  of  laughter  on  the  Lord's  day :  when  he 
thinks  of  any  theorem  in  divinity  to  be  solved,  im- 
mediately to  do  what  he  can  toward  solving  it ;  to 
study  the  Scriptures  constantly  and  frequently  ;  not 
to  allow  the  least  sign  of  fretting  or  uneasiness  at 
his  father  or  mother,  or  to  any  one  of  the  family. 


RESOLUTIONS.  29 

He  is  constantly  to  examine  himself  as  to  his  be- 
havior at  the  end  of  every  day,  every  week,  every 
month,  every  year.  All  such  things  as  weaken 
his  sense  of  assurance  of  the  divine  favor  he  casts 
away.  Moments  when  his  sense  of  assurance  is 
at  its  best,  he  will  s^e  as  opportunities  for  fresh 
consecration  of  himself. 

As  we  linger  over  these  Resolutions,  which  por- 
tray the  ideal  of  hupaan  character  and  excelleifce 
as  Edwards  conceived  it  in  his  youth,  we  find  him 
still  influenced  by  the  commoner  notions  of  per- 
sonal advantage  and  safety  to  be  achieved  here- 
after. The  sanctions  of  his  deeds  he  looks  for  in 
another  world ;  the  test  to  which  he  subjects  them 
is  the  hour  and  moment  of  death,  when  things  are 
most  clearly  seen  -  in  their  true  relations.  He  will 
act  in  this  world  as  he  thinks  he  shall  judge  would 
have  been  best  and  most  prudent  when  he  comes 
into  the  future  world ;  he  will  act  in  every  respect 
as  he  thinks  he  should  wish  he  had  done  if  he 
should  at  last  be  damned.  There  is,  too,  the  daring 
ambition  of  a  youth  conscious  of  great  capacity, 
and  thinking  it  not  unfit  that  his  ambition  should 
spur  him  on  in  the  race  for  spiritual  excellence 
and  reward.  He  has  frequently  heard  persons  in 
old  age  say  how  they  would  live  if  they  were  to 
live  their  lives  over  again.  He  resolves  that  he  will 
live  just  as  he  can  think  he  would  wish  he  had 
done,  supposing  he  were  to  live  to  old  age.  Nay, 
even  "  on  the  sup2:)osition  that  there  never  was  to  he 
hut  one  individual  in  the  worlds  at  any  one  time. 


30  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

in  all  resjoects  of  a  right  stamjj^  having  Chris^ 
tianity  always  shining  in  its  true  lustre.,  a?id  aj)- 
pearing  excellent  and  lovely  from  whatever  i^art 
and  under  whatever  character  viewed ;  resolved 
to  act  just  as  I  would  do  if  I  strove  with  all  my 
might  to  he  that  one  who  should  live  in  my  time^ 
The  Diary  of  Edwards,  which  covers  the  years 
when  he  was  forming  his  resolutions,  serves  as  a 
commentary  on  the  difficulties  he  encountered  in 
keeping  his  will  true  to  the  highest  standard. 
There  is  the  usual  record  of  alternations  between 
failures  and  successes,  seasons  of  depression  and 
of  exaltation.  The  depressions  and  the  failures  are 
attributed  to  the  withdrawal  of  the  Sj)irit  of  God, 
as  if  liis  relation  to  the  soul  were  not  an  organic 
one,  but  fitful  and  capricious.  The  Diary  has  cer- 
tain personal  touches,  apart  from  their  religious 
interest,  which  throw  light  on  his  character.  His 
subtlety  in  making  distinctions  is  apparent  in  what 
he  says  about  revenge.  On  one  occasion  he  ac- 
cused himself  of  having  felt  a  certain  satisfaction 
in  what  he  had  done,  because  it  might  lead  some 
persons  to  repent  of  their  conduct.  If  he  were 
satisfied  with  their  repentance  because  they  had  a 
seft^e  of  their  error,  it  would  be  right.  But  to 
have  a  satisfaction  in  their  repentance  because  of 
the  evil  that  is  brought  upon  them  would  be  re- 
venge. He  observes  that  "old  men  seldom  have 
any  advantage  of  new  discoveries,  because  they  are 
beside  the  way  of  thinking  to  which  they  have  been 
so  long  used."     Hence  he  resolves  that  he  will  not 


DEFERENCE  TO   TRADITION.  31 

be  affected  by  limitations  of  the  lower  nature,  but 
"  if  ever  lie  lives  to  years  he  will  be  impartial  to 
hear  the  reasons  of  all  pretended  discoveries  and 
receive  them  if  rational,  how  long  soever  he  may 
have  been  used  to  another  way  of  thinking."  None 
the  less,  in  an  entry  for  February  21,  1725,  he 
seems  to  reflect  upon  the  course  of  the  clergy  in 
C«^necticut,  whose  secession  to  Episcopacy  had 
made  such  a  stir  in  the  colony,  as  if  their  action 
had  not  been  well  considered,  or  as  if  it  showed  a 
lack  of  deference  for  authority  and  tradition.  "  If 
ever  I  am  inclined  to  turn  to  the  opinion  of  any 
other  sect,  resolved,  beside  the  most  deliberate  con- 
sideration, earnest  prayer,  etc.,  privately  to  desire 
all  the  help  that  can  be  afforded  me  from  some 
of  the  most  judicious  men  in  the  country,  together 
with  the  prayers  of  wise  and  holy  men,  however 
strongly  persuaded  I  may  seem  to  be  that  I  am 
in  the  right." 

The  ascetic  tendency  which  entered  so  largely  into 
the  composition  of  the  New  England  character  finds 
full  expression  in  the  early  experience  of  Edwards,. 
He  esteems  it  as  "  an  advantage  that  the  duties  of 
rehgion  are  difficult,  and  that  many  difficulties  are 
sometimes  to  be  gone  through  in  the  way  of  duty.*" 
At  the  age  of  twenty,  he  records  his  intention  to  live 
in  continual  mortification  without  ceasing,  and  even 
to  weary  himself  thereby,  and  never  to  expect  or 
desire  any  worldly  ease  or  pleasure.  He  charges 
himself  not  to  be  uneasy  about  his  state  or  condi- 
tion, not  to  be  envious  or  jealous  when  he  sees  that 


32  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

others  are  prosperous  and  honored  and  the  world 
is  smooth  to  them ;  rather  to  rejoice  in  all  such 
things  for  others ;  while  for  himseK,  he  is  not  to 
expect  or  desire  these  things,  but  to  depend  on  af- 
fliction, and  betake  himself  entirely  to  another  sort 
of  happiness.  In  his  stoical  desire  for  spiritual 
independence  and  completeness,  he  would  strip 
himself  of  those  things  whose  tenure  is  uncertain, 
so  as  not  to  be  afflicted  with  fear  of  losing  them, 
nor  pleased  and  excited  with  the  expectation  of 
gaining  them.  The  question  arises,  whether  any 
delight  or  satisfaction  should  be  allowed  which 
ministers  to  any  other  than  a  religious  end.  At 
first  he  gives  a  tentative  answer  in  the  affirmative, 
for  the  reason  that  otherwise  we  should  never  re- 
joice at  the  sight  of  friends,  or  have  any  pleasure 
in  our  food,  —  a  pleasure  which  contributes  to  the 
animal  spirits  and  a  good  digestion.  But  the  final 
answer  is,  never  to  allow  any  joy  or  sorrow  but 
what  helps  religion.  He  complains  of  himself 
that  he  has  become  accustomed  after  working  a 
great  while  to  look  forward  to  rest  as  if  it  were 
his  due,  and  to  expect  to  be  released  from  labor 
after  a  certain  time  even  if  not  really  tired  or 
weary.  But  if  he  did  not  expect  ease,  he  should 
go  on  with  the  same  vigor  at  his  business  without 
vacation  times  to  rest.  ^  The  suggestion  comes  to 
him  that  too  vigorous  application  to  religion  may 
be  prejudicial  to  health  ;  but  he  will  know  this  by 
his  own  experience  before  he  abandons  his  aim. 
He  believes  that  great  mortifications  and  acts  of 


ASCETIC   TENDENCY.  33 

self-denial  bring  him  the  greatest  comfort.  He 
applies  his  principle  rigidly  to  his  habits  of  eating. 
By  sparingness  of  diet  he  shall  gain  time,  and  be 
able  to  think  more  clearly.  These  hints  from  his 
Diary  point  to  the  untiring  worker  of  later  years 
who  did  not  know  how  to  take  rest,  finding  relief 
only  in  continuous  labor. 

Edwards  did  not  suffer  at  this  time  from  any 
disquieting  seK-consciousness  as  to  the  power  of 
the  human  will  to  accomplish  its  highest  resolves. 
There  are  allusions  to  the  divine  grace  through 
which  all  human  excellence  is  achieved,  but  these 
allusions  have  a  commonplace  reminder,  as  if  they 
were  said  because  they  ought  to  be  said.  There 
is  the  recognition  of  a  need  of  absolute  dependence 
upon  divine  power,  but  he  complains  that  he  does 
not  yet  realize  its  need  as  he  ought.  "  I  find  a 
want  of  dependence  on  God,  to  look  to  Him  for 
success,  and  to  have  my  eyes  unto  Him  for  His 
gracious  disposal  of  the  matter ;  for  want  of  a 
sense  of  God's  particular  influence  in  ordering  and 
directing  all  affairs,  of  whatever  nature,  however 
naturally  or  fortuitously  they  may  seem  to  suc- 
ceed." He  had  at  one  time  felt  repugnance  to  the 
princi^ile  of  man's  inability  to  accomplish  any  good 
work,  for  he  records  in  his  journal,  under  the  date 
of  March  6, 1722,  that  he  has  been  regarding  "  the 
doctrines  of  election,  free  grace,  our  inability  to  do 
anything  without  the  grace  of  God,  and  that  holi- 
ness is  entirely  throughout  the  work  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  with  greater  pleasure  than  ever  before." 


34  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

Neither  in  the  Resohitions  nor  in  the  Journal 
do  we  meet  the  deep,  all-pervading  sense  of  sin 
which  we  should  naturally  expect  from  one  who 
afterwards  made  it  so  prominent  in  his  theology. 
There  are  traces  of  the  sense  of  sin  and  guilt  in 
these  records  of  early  experience,  but  it  is  not  the 
l^rominent  feature :  it  is  subordinate  to  the  aspira- 
tion after  an  ideal,  or  to  the  methods  by  which  the 
aspiration  maybe  achieved.  Forgiveness  is  not  the 
word  which  becomes  a  key  to  unlock  the  secret  of 

/  his  spiritual  history.  There  are  some,  like  Luther, 
who  begin  their  religious  experience  with  the  bur- 
den of  a  sinfid  conscience,  —  a  burden  which  when 
it  has  disapj^eared,  as  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  is 
gone  never  to  return.  And  there  are  others,  wor- 
shippers of  an  ideal,  who  attach  themselves  with- 
out reserve  to   God,  thirsting  for   the  righteous- 

\  ness  which  union  with  the  divine  demands.  With 
these,  the  sense  of  sin  may  come  later,  growing  out 
of  a  deeper  love,  out  of  the  consciousness  of  failure 
to  fulfil  the  standard  of  a  perfect  law.  That  such 
was  Edwards'  experience  is  intimated  in  a  beauti- 
ful passage  from  his  Treatise  on  the  Religious 
Affections  :  — 

"  A  true  saint  is  Hke  a  little  child  in  this  respect :  he 
never  had  any  godly  sorrow  before  he  was  born  again, 
but  since  has  it  often  in  exercise  ;  as  a  little  child  before 
it  is  born,  and  while  it  remains  in  darkness,  never  cries  ; 
but  as  soon  as  it  sees  the  light  of  day  it  begins  to  cry, 
and  thenceforward  is  often  crying.  Although  Christ 
hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sorrows  so  that 


THE  SENSE  OF  SIN.  35 

we  are  freed  from  the  sorrow  of  punishment,  and  may 
now  sweetly  feed  ujDon  the  comforts  Christ  hath  pur- 
chased for  us,  yet  that  hinders  not  but  that  our  feeding 
on  these  comforts  should  be  attended  with  the  sorrow  of 
repentance,  as  of  old  the  children  of  Israel  were  com- 
manded evermore  to  feed  upon  the  paschal  lamb  Avith 
bitter  herbs.  True  saints  are  spoken  of  in  Scripture, 
not  only  as  those  who  have  mourned  for  sin,  but  as  those 
who  do  mourn,  whose  manner  it  is  still  to  mourn : 
'  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn,  for  they  shall  be  com- 
forted.' " 

There  is  another  point  in  which  the  Diary  is 
prophetic  of  work  to  be  accomplished  in  the  fu- 
ture. Several  of  the  entries  relate  to  the  process 
which  is  called  conversion.  At  this  time  neither 
the  name,  nor  the  process  for  which  it  stood,  were 
as  familiar  as  they  have  since  become.  In  these 
allusions  Edwards  appears  uncertain  about  his 
spiritual  condition,  because  he  is  not  clear  as  to 
what  conversion  requires.  He  determines  that  he 
will  be  constantly  looking  within,  to  the  end  that 
he  may  not  be  deceived  as  to  whether  he  has  a 
genuine  interest  in  Christ.  He  makes  it  a  point 
for  future  investigation  to  look  most  nicely  and 
diligently  into  the  opinions  of  our  old  divines  con- 
cerning co7iversion.  "  The  chief  thing  that  now 
makes  me  in  any  measure  question  my  good  estate 
is  my  not  having  experienced  conversion  in  those 
particular  steps  wherein  the  people  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  anciently  the  dissenters  of  old  England, 
used  to  experience  it.     Wherefore  have  resolved 


36  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

never  to  leave  off  searcliing  till  I  have  satisfyingly 
found  out  the  very  bottom  and  foundation,  the  real 
reason  why  they  used  to  be  converted  in  those 
steps."  All  this  is  interesting  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  Edwards  did  more  than  any  writer  who  pre- 
ceded or  followed  him  in  determining  the  nature 
and  the  mode  of  conversion. 

After  years  of  concern  about  his  inward  state, 
yet  so  late  as  1725  Edwards  was  still  uncertain  as 
to  whether  he  had  been  converted.  Nor  in  later 
life,  as  he  reviewed  these  years  of  struggle  and 
anxiety,  was  he  able  to  describe  with  clearness  the 
process  through  which  he  had  passed.  His  con- 
version must  be  left,  where  he  has  left  it,  in  mys- 
tery and  obscurity.  No  mind,  however  subtle  or 
introvertive,  can  trace  the  genesis  of  spiritual  life, 
or  analyze  the  steps  by  which  the  soul  enters  into 
union  with  God.  But  in  Edwards'  case,  as  in  that 
of  so  many  others,  the  process  is  confused  and 
complicated  by  extraneous  elements.  An  intel- 
lectual transition  waited  upon  the  sj^iritual  process 
of  which  he  gives  no  hint  in  his  journal.  He  was 
tending  away  from  the  dreams  of  his  youth,  which 
reveal  such  extraordinary  affiliations  with  Plato, 
with  the  Platonist  fathers  of  the  early  church,  or 
even  with  Spinoza,  toward  the  Augustinian  con- 
ception of  God  as  unconditioned  and  arbitrary 
will.  The  change  resulted  in  putting  him  in  sjan- 
pathy  with  the  tenets  of  Calvinistic  theology.  He 
shows  no  appreciation  of  the  significance  of  the 
transition,  but  he  records  the  fact  and  its  momen- 


CONVERSION.  37 

tons  consequences.  "  From  my  cliildlioocl  up,  my 
mind  had  been  full  of  objections  against  the  doc- 
trine of  God's  sovereignty,  in  choosing  whom  He 
would  to  eternal  life,  and  rejecting  whom  He 
pleased,  leaving  them  eternally  to  perish  and  be 
everlastingly  tormented  in  hell.  It  used  to  appear 
like  a  horrible  doctrine  to  me."  But  the  moment 
came  to  him  when  he  rejected  the  natural,  instinc- 
tive working  of  the  conscience  as  carrying  no 
sacred  force.  This  inward  repulsion  might  be  only 
the  carnal  mood  of  the  natural  unconverted  man  ; 
nay,  even  it  might  be  a  presumption  in  favor  of  the 
obnoxious  tenet.  Edwards  no  longer  questioned 
the  truth  of  the  doctrine  because  it  was  repel- 
lent. What  he  aspired  after  was  its  reception 
with  a  willing  and  rejoicing  mind.  And  somehow, 
he  cannot  tell  exactly  how,  he  finally  attained  this 
result.  \ 

'*  I  remember  the  time  very  weU  when  I  seemed  to 
be  convinced  and  fully  satisfied  as  to  this  sovereignty  of 
God,  and  his  justice  in  thus  eternally  disposing  of  men 
according  to  his  sovereign  pleasure  ;  but  never  could 
give  an  account  how  or  by  what  means  I  was  thus  con- 
vinced, not  in  the  least  imagining  at  the  time,  nor  a 
long  time  after,  that  there  was  any  extraordinary  influ- 
ence of  God's  spirit  in  it,  but  only  that  now  I  saw  fur- 
ther, and  my  mind  apprehended  the  justice  and  reason- 
ableness of  it.  However,  my  mind  rested  in  it,  and  it 
put  an  end  to  all  these  cavils  and  questionings.  .  .  . 
God's  absolute  sovereignty  and  justice  with  respect  to 
salvation  is  what  my  mind  seems  to  rest  assured  of,  as 


T-^ 


38  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

much  as  of  anything  that  I  see  with  my  eyes ;  at  least 
it  is  so  at  times.  But  I  have  often,  since  that  first  con- 
viction, had  quite  another  kind  of  sense  of  God's  sover- 
eignty than  I  had  then.  I  have  often  had  not  only  a 
conviction,  but  a  delightful  conviction.  The  doctrine  has 
very  often  appeared  exceedingly  pleasant,  bright,  and 
sweet.     But  my  first  conviction  was  not  so." 

So  Edwards  entered  into  the  heritage  of  his  fa- 
thers and  made  the  Puritan  consciousness  his  own. 
There  are  traces  of  an  inward  rebellion  which  was 
suppressed.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  his 
success  was  not  so  complete  as  he  fancied  in  eradi- 
cating his  earlier  thought.  But  the  critical  point 
of  the  transition  is  not  explained.  It  is  buried  out 
of  sight  in  silence  and  darkness. 


III. 


SETTLEMENT    AT    NORTHAMPTON.  —  MARRIAGE.  — 
DOMESTIC   LIFE. 

On  the  15th  of  February,  1727,  Edwards  was 
ordained  at  Northampton  as  the  colleague  of  his 
grandfather,  the  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  then  in 
his  eighty-fourth  year.  The  town  of  NorthamjDton, 
a  beautiful  sj^ot  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut, 
had  been  founded  in  1654.  The  first  minister 
was  Mr.  Eleazar  Mather,  a  brother  of  the  cele- 
brated Increase  Mather.  After  his  early  death 
came  Mr.  Stoddard,  who  held  the  pastorate  from 
1672  to  1729.     He  was  one  of  the  great  men  of 


CALL   TO  NORTUAMPTON.  89 

early  New  England  history.  Edwards  speaks  of 
him  as  "  a  very  great  man,  of  strong  powers  of 
mind,  of  great  grace,  and  a  great  authority,  of  a 
masterly  countenance,  speech,  and  behavior."  Mr. 
Stoddard  lived  in  the  days  when,  as  Hutchinson 
remarks,  "  the  elders  continued  to  be  consulted 
in  every  affair  of  importance.  The  share  they 
held  in  temporal  affairs  added  to  the  weight  they 
had  acquired  from  their  spiritual  employments, 
and  they  were  in  high  esteem."  But  for  Mr. 
Stoddard  there  was  felt  somethins:  more  than  the 
usual  respect  and  veneration.  "  The  officers  and 
leaders  of  Northampton,"  says  Edwards,  "imi- 
tated his  manners,  which  were  dogmatic,  and 
thought  it  an  excellency  to  be  like  him."  Many 
of  the  people,  he  adds,  esteemed  all  his  sayings  as 
oracles,  and  looked  upon  him  "  almost  as  a  sort  of 
deity."  The  Indians  of  the  neighborhood,  inter- 
preting this  admiration  in  their  own  way,  spoke 
of  Mr.  Stoddard  as  "  the  Englishman's  God." 

It  was  not  an  easy  task  even  for  Edwards  to 
follow  such  a  pastor.  Other  circumstances  in- 
creased the  difficulty  of  the  situation.  The  village 
of  Northampton  had  grown  rapidly  in  wealth  and 
importance.  Many  of  its  inhabitants  were  marked 
by  cultivation  of  mind,  and  refinement  of  man- 
ner. They  were  also  characterized  by  a  certain 
high-spiritedness  which  made  them  a  turbulent 
people,  not  easy  to  control.  They  rejoiced  in  their 
reputation  as  a  kno\ving  people,  and  many  of  them 


40  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

having  been  promoted  to  places  of  public  trust 
there  had  been  much  to  feed  their  pride.  There 
was  also  an  unfortunate  division  among  them: 
the  court  party,  as  it  might  be  called,  had  wealth, 
land,  and  authority  ;  while  the  country  party,  not 
so  well  endowed,  was  jealous  of  them,  afraid  of 
their  having  too  much  power  in  town  and  church. 
All  this  was  not  auspicious  for  the  harmony  of 
Edwards'  pastorate.  But  we  do  not  hear  of  these 
sinister  aspects  of  the  situation  in  the  early  years 
of  his  ministry.  They  were  the  dark  possibilities 
of  the  future.  On  the  other  hand,  from  every 
point  of  view  the  settlement  at  Northampton 
seemed  most  fitting  and  desirable.  The  father  and 
mother  of  the  young  minister  had  many  friends  in 
the  parish,  for  whose  sake  he  was  welcomed.  Mr. 
Stoddard  must  have  felt  a  peculiar  satisfaction  in 
the  new  relationship,  as  if  his  own  mantle  would 
descend  to  his  successor  after  his  departure.  The 
church  at  Northampton,  although  on  the  distant 
borders  of  the  rising  civilization,  was  a  large  and 
important  one,  being  estimated  as  the  strongest 
church  in  wealth  and  numbers  outside  of  Boston. 
It  was  a  suitable  sphere  for  one  who  had  already 
achieved  some  reputation  as  a  scholar  and  preacher. 
Edwards  contributed  to  the  lustre  of  the  town, 
while  the  congregation  felt  a  justifiable  pride  in 
his  powers. 

He  was  at  this  time  twenty-four  years  of  age. 
In  personal  appearance  he  was  tall,  being  upwards 
of  six  feet  in  height,  with  a  slender  form,  and  of 


PERSONAL  APPEARANCE.  41 

great  seriousness  and  gravity  of  manner.  His 
face  was  of  a  feminine  cast,  implying  at  once  a 
capacity  for  both  sweetness  and  severity,  —  the 
Johannine  type  of  countenance,  we  should  say, 
just  as  his  spirit  is  that  of  St.  Jolin,  rather  than 
that  of  Peter  or  of  Paid.  It  is  a  face  which  be- 
speaks a  delicate  and  nervous  organization.  The 
life  which  he  laid  out  for  liimseK,  according  to  the 
ministerial  standards  of  the  day,  was  the  life  of  a 
student,  who  would  not  allow  his  time  to  be  frit- 
tered away  in  useless  employments.  He  visited 
the  people  in  cases  only  of  necessity.  Thirteen 
hours  of  study  daily  is  said  to  have  been  his  rule. 
His  custom  at  first  was  to  write  two  sermons  every 
week,  one  of  which  was  delivered  on  Sunday,  the 
other  at  the  weekly  evening  lecture.  It  is  prob- 
able that  he  kept  up  the  habit  of  writing  his  ser- 
mons in  the  early  years  of  his  ministry.  His  un- 
pubhshed  manuscripts  show  that  he  must  have 
abandoned  this  practice,  however,  in  later  years, 
substituting  plans  or  outlines  carefully  prepared. 
He  was  not,  therefore,  a  mere  reader  of  sermons, 
according  to  the  general  impression.  On  special 
occasions,  his  sermons  were  written  in  full.  The 
tradition  in  regard  to  the  sermon  at  Enfield  makes 
it  to  have  been  read  very  closely  from  the  manu- 
script. His  manner  in  the  pulpit  is  described  as 
quiet  exceedingly,  wdth  little  or  no  gesture  ;  a  voice 
not  loud,  but  distinct  and  penetrating.  He  could 
not  have  been  called  at  any  time  a  popular 
preacher  in  the  ordinary  sense ;  but  he  must  have 


42  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

been  very  interesting  to  his  congregation,  —  an  in- 
terest which  can  still  be  felt  in  whatever  he  wrote. 
It  is  sometimes  said  of  sermons  like  those  of 
Whitefield,  which  now  appear  so  dull  as  to  be  al- 
most unreadable,  that  they  depended  for  their 
power  on  the  living  speaker.  Edwards'  sermons 
also  must  have  gained  from  his  remarkable  pres- 
ence and  personality.  But,  unlike  most  sermons, 
the  fire  of  life  and  reality  still  burns  in  them. 

From  the  first,  Edwards  was  determined  to  do 
something  more  than  the  prescribed  routine  work 
of  the  pulpit.  He  sought,  above  all,  a  wider  and 
more  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Bible.  To  this 
end  he  kept  a  manuscript  for  notes  on  Scripture, 
which  gradually  became  of  large  dimensions.  He 
also  followed  out  his  resolution  to  be  always  solv- 
ing difficult  problems  in  divinity,  his  efforts  in  this 
line  also  going  into  manuscripts  and  notes.  In 
his  only  diversion,  his  solitary  rides  and  walks, 
he  carried  his  thoughts  with  him,  generally  also 
pen  and  ink,  having  fixed  beforehand  the  subject 
of  his  meditations.  Returning  from  his  rides  he 
would  bring  with  him  various  artificial  remem- 
brancers, such  as  small  pieces  of  paper  pinned  to 
his  coat,  and  on  going  to  his  study  write  out  the 
reflections  associated  with  them.  His  life  was  one 
of  protracted,  intense  application,  living  by  rule 
in  regard  to  food,  curtailing  sleep,  with  little  real 
recreation,  and  governed  by  the  purpose,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  of  never  indidgmg  any  weak 
desire   for   rest.      He  could   not   have  carried   a 


METHODS   OF    WORK.  43 

large  library  with  him  to  Northampton.  He  read 
what  he  could  get,  borrowing  some  books,  buying 
others,  and  knowing  clearly  just  what  books  were 
necessary,  if  he  could  only  get  them.  The  con- 
nection of  Northampton  mth  Boston  was  a  close 
one.  Edwards  managed  to  find  out  in  some  way 
what  was  g:oino-  on  in  the  world.  He  soon  learned 
that  the  times  were  changing,  even  though  the 
change  went  on  more  slowly  in  the  remote  and 
isolated  province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay. 

We  are  studying  the  life  of  a  Protestant  theolo- 
gian, the  peer  of  his  predecessors  in  any  age  of  the 
church  in  intellectual  power  and  acumen,  as  well 
as  in  a  vast  expanding  influence.  Let  us  turn 
then,  as  by  a  natural  transition,  to  his  marriage 
and  his  domestic  life.  If  we  were  studying  the 
lives  of  St.  Augustine,  or  St.  Jerome,  or  St.  Ber- 
nard of  Clairvaux,  or  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin,  we 
should  think  of  them  in  their  monastic  cells  de- 
nouncing the  ties  of  human  love  and  of  the  fam- 
ily relation,  as  unfit  or  even  degrading  for  those 
who  belong  to  the  sacred  order  of  the  clergy.  Of 
Edwards  we  must  think  as  having  wife  and  chil- 
dren, finding  repose  and  consolation,  and  not  only 
so,  but  inspiration/^nd  strength,  in  the  bosom  of 
his  family.  He,  too,  is  a  genuine  ascetic  at  heart ; 
but  his  asceticism,  however  it  may  have  erred,  is 
of  a  higher  type  than  the  ancient  or  mediaeval 
forms.  It  is  of  the  heroic  cast  which  orders  life 
with  reference  to  the  highest  end.  If  he  abstains 
from  amusements,  from  excess  of  food,  from  many 


44  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

hours  spent  in  sleep,  it  is  not  because  he  believes 
such  abstinence  scores  so  much  to  his  merit,  but 
because  he  has  a  work  to  do,  and  like  his  Master 
is  sorely  straitened  until  it  be  accomplished. 

Hardly  had  Edwards  become  settled  in  his  par- 
ish at  Northampton  when  he  bethought  himself  of 
a  wife.  Nor  was  there  apparently  any  doubt  in 
his  mind  as  to  where  he  should  turn  to  find  the 
heart  which  beat  in  sympathy  with  his  own. 
While  living  in  New  Haven  he  had  first  heard  of 
Sarah  Pierrepont,  then  a  young  girl  of  thirteen 
years.  Her  ancestry  was  a  distinguished  one  in 
colonial  annals,  as  also  in  England,  whence  her 
paternal  grandfather  had  emigrated  to  Roxbury,  in 
Massachusetts.  She  was  descended  through  her 
mother  from  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  called  the 
father  of  the  Connecticut  churches,  generally 
designated  as  the  great  Mr.  Hooker,  of  whom  it 
had  been  said  that,  if  any  man  in  his  age  came  in 
the  spirit  of  John  the  Baptist,  Hooker  was  the 
man.  Her  father  also  was  an  eminent  divine,  con- 
nected with  Yale  College  in  various  capacities  of 
founder,  trustee,  and  for  a  time  professor  of  moral 
philosophy.  Some  connection  with  that  produc- 
tion known  as  the  Sayhrook  Platform  is  also 
ascribed  to  him.  Sarah  Pierrepont  is  spoken  of 
as  possessing  a  rare  and  lustrous  beauty  both  of 
form  and  features.  Her  ]3ortrait,  taken  by  an 
English  painter,  presents,  says  Dr.  Dwight,  "  a 
form  and  features  not  often  rivalled,  with  a  pecu- 
liar loveliness  of  expression,  the  combined  result 


\ 


SARAH  PIERREPONT.  45 

of  goodness  and  intelligence."  Her  beauty  and 
attractiveness  are  alluded  to  by  Dr.  Hopkins,  of 
Newport,  who  speaks  of  her,  after  she  had  passed 
the  age  of  youth,  as  more  than  ordinarily  beauti- 
ful. But  her  beauty,  which  throws  a  charm  and 
softness  over  the  severity  of  ancient  Puritanism, 
was  not  all  that  recoromended  her  in  Edwards'  eyes. 
She  j)roved  to  be  a  woman  of  strong  character,  en- 
dowed with  a  natural  religious  enthusiasm,  with  a 
decidedly  mystic  bent  to  the  piety  that  belonged 
to  her  from  childhood.  Her  strongest  attraction 
in  the  eyes  of  her  future  husband,  when  he  first 
heard  of  her,  was  the  natural  ease  with  which  she 
achieved  and  maintained  so  intimate  a  relationship 
with  Deity.  In  this  connection  belongs  the  mem- 
orable passage  written  by  Edwards  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  while  Sarah  Pierrepont  was  thirteen,  —  a 
passage  which  Dr.  Chalmers  is  said  to  have  ad- 
mired for  its  eloquence :  — 

"They  say  there  is  a  young  lady  in  New  Haven 
who  is  beloved  of  that  great  Being  who  made  and  rules 
the  world,  and  that  there  are  certain  seasons  in  which 
this  great  Being,  in  some  way  or  other  invisible,  comes 
to  her  and  fills  her  mind  with  exceeding  sweet  delight, 
and  that  she  hardly  cares  for  anything  except  to  medi- 
tate on  Him  ;  that  she  expects  after  a  while  to  be  received 
up  where  He  is,  to  be  raised  up  out  of  the  world  and 
caught  up  into  heaven  ;  being  assured  that  He  loves  her 
too  well  to  let  her  remain  at  a  distance  from  Him  al- 
ways. There  she  is  to  dwell  with  Him,  and  to  be  rav- 
ished with  His  love  and  delight  forever.     Therefore,  if 


46  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

you  present  all  the  world  before  her,  with  the  richest  of 
its  treasures,  she  disregards  and  cares  not  for  it,  and  is 
unmindful  of  any  pain  or  affliction.  She  has  a  strange 
sweetness  in  her  mind,  and  singular  purity  in  her  affec- 
tions ;  is  most  just  and  conscientious  in  all  her  conduct ; 
and  you  could  not  persuade  her  to  do  anything  wrong 
or  sinful,  if  you  would  give  her  all  the  w^orld,  lest  she 
should  offend  this  great  Being.  She  is  of  a  wonderful 
calmness,  and  universal  benevolence  of  mind  ;  especially 
after  this  great  God  has  manifested  Himself  to  her  mind. 
She  will  sometimes  go  about  from  place  to  place  sing- 
ing sweetly ;  and  seems  to  be  always  full  of  joy  and 
pleasure,  and  no  one  knows  for  what.  She  loves  to  be 
alone,  walking  in  the  fields  and  groves,  and  seems  to 
have  some  one  invisible  always  conversing  with  her." 

Such  was  Sarali  Pierrepont,  to  whom  Edwards 
wrote  from  Northampton  entreating  her  to  a  speedy 
marriage.  His  tone  is  as  urgent  as  the  heart  of  a 
maiden  could  desire.  "  Patience,"  he  writes  to  her, 
"  is  commonly  esteemed  a  virtue,  but  in  this  case 
I  may  almost  regard  it  as  a  vice."  ^  The  marriage 
took  place  in  1727,  only  a  few  months  after  his 
ordination,  the  bride  having  attained  the  age  of 
seventeen.  Before  turning  to  Edwards  as  the 
laborious  pastor,  involved  in  a  long  and  fierce  con- 
troversy, carrying  the  burden  on  his  shoulders,  as 
it  were,  of  all  the  New  England  churches,  one  may 
be  pardoned  for  lingering  a  moment  on  this  scene 
at  the  opening  of  his  career,  when  the  young  min- 
ister and  his  wife  took  up  their  residence  in  the 

1  Appleton's  Amer.  Encyc,  1st  ed.,  art.  Edwards. 


THE  MINISTER'S   WIFE.  47 

beautiful  village  of  Northampton.  As  a  minister's 
wife  Mrs.  Edwards  fulfilled  the  somewhat  exigent 
ideal  which  the  ways  of  a  Puritan  minister  de- 
manded. She  became  the  administrator  of  the 
household  affairs,  saving  her  husband  from  all  un- 
necessary knowledge  and  annoyance.  She  studied 
economy  as  a  religious  duty,  bearing  in  mind  the 
words  of  Christ,  that  nothing  he  lost.  "  She  paid," 
says  Dr.  Hopkins,  "a  becoming  deference  to  her 
husband  ;  she  spared  no  pains  in  conforming  to 
his  inclinations,  and  rendering  everything  in  the 
family  agreeable  and  pleasant,  accounting  it  her 
greatest  glory,  and  that  wherein  she  could  best 
serve  God  and  her  generation,  to  be  the  means  in 
this  way  of  promoting  his  usefulness  and  happi- 
ness. And  no  person  of  discernment  could  be 
conversant  in  the  family  without  observing  and 
admiring  the  perfect  harmony,  the  mutual  love 
and  esteem,  that  subsisted  between  them."  ^  She 
had  been  "  educated  in  the  midst  of  polished  life, 
familiar  from  childhood  with  the  rides  of  decorum 
and  good  breeding,  affable  and  easy  in  her  man- 
ners, and  governed  by  the  f  eehngs  of  liberality  and 
benevolence."  ^  As  her  husband's  reputation  grew 
throughout  the  colony,  her  name  became  every- 
where associated  with  his,  but  also  as  of  a  person 
to  be  knowai  and  revered  on  her  own  account.  It 
was  said  of  her  by  a  somewhat  witty  divine,  that  it 
was  understood  she  had  learned  a  shorter  way  to 

^  Hopkins'  Life  of  Edwards,  quoted  in  Dwiglit,  p.  123.    * 
2  Dwight,  p.  130. 


48  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

heaven  tlian  her  husband.  There  was  nothing 
morbid  or  sad  about  her  reUgion  ;  she  had  no  de- 
pressing experiences  ;  her  piety,  Hke  her  character, 
was  a  joyous  one,  bringing  with  it  light  and  glad- 
ness. She  made  the  home  at  Northampton  a  cen- 
tre of  genial  and  attractive  hospitality,  till  it  be- 
came ahnost  like  a  sanctuary  to  which  multitudes 
resorted,  as  in  the  course  of  years  Edwards  came 
to  be  looked  up  to  as  a  spiritual  teacher  and  guide. 
The  famous  Whitefield,  who  spent  several  days  at 
Northampton,  has  left  his  impressions  of  his  visit 
in  his  diary,  —  a  record,  it  is  needless  to  say,  which 
also  throws  light  on  his  own  character :  — 

"  On  the  Sabbath  felt  wonderful  satisfaction  in  being 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Edwards.  He  is  a  son  himself  and 
hath  also  a  daughter  of  Abraham  for  his  wife.  A 
sweeter  couple  I  have  not  seen.  Their  children  were 
dressed,  not  in  silks  and  satins,  but  plain,  as  becomes  the 
children  of  those  who  in  all  things  ought  to  be  examples 
of  Christian  simplicity.  She  is  a  woman  adorned  with 
a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  and  talked  so  feelingly  and  so 
solidly  of  the  things  of  God,  and  seemed  to  be  such  an 
helpmeet  to  her,  husband,  that  she  caused  me  to  renew 
those  prayers  which  for  some  months  I  have  put  up  to 
God,  that  He  would  send  me  a  daughter  of  Abraham  to 
be  my  wife.  I  find  upon  many  accounts  it  is  my  duty 
to  marry.  Lord,  I  desire  to  have  no  choice  of  my  own. 
Thou  knowest  my  circumstances."  ^ 

1  Tracy,  The  Great  Awakening,  p.  99.  "He  had  not  yet 
learned,  if  lie  ever  did,"  adds  Mr.  Tracy,  "that  God  is  not 
pleased  to  make  '  sweet  couples '  out  of  persons  who  have  no 
choice  of  their  own.' ' 


FAMILY  LIFE.  49 

As  in  most  New  England  families  of  this  period, 
the  children  were  numerous,  and  Mrs.  Edwards,  in 
addition  to  her  other  duties,  became  responsible 
for  their  training  and  discipline.  In  this  respect 
also  she  was  admirable,  seldom  punishing,  and  in 
speaking  using  gentle  and  pleasant  words.  She 
addressed  herself  to  the  reason  of  the  children, 
was  in  the  habit  of  speaking  but  once,  and  was 
cheerfully  obeyed.  It  was  the  children's  manner 
to  rise  when  their  parents  entered  the  room  and 
remain  standing  until  they  were  seated.  Quarrel- 
ling and  contention  were  unknown  among  them. 
She  prayed  regularly  with  them,  bearing  them  also 
on  her  heart  before  God,  and  that  even  before  they 
were  born.  She  aimed  to  bring  each  young  will 
into  submission  to  the  will  of  its  parents,  in  order 
that  it  might  afterwards  become  submissive  to  the 
will  of  God.  She  had  also  relations  to  sustain  to 
the  parish.  Here,  too,  her  influence  was  great,  and 
the  ideal  of  character  which  she  aimed  to  embody 
in  herself  a  high  one.  She  not  only  made  no 
trouble  by  indiscreet  remarks,  but  set  herseK  as 
an  example  in  the  regidation  of  the  tongue.  Such 
a  woman  was  sure  also  to  exert  an  attractive  spell 
over  her  husband.  What  her  influence  was,  and 
how  largely  it  controlled  his  attitude,  will  be  seen 
hereafter. 

For  two  years  after  Edwards  became  his  col- 
league, Mr.  Stoddard  continued  to  officiate  half 
the  day  on  Sundays.  On  February  11,  1729,  he 
departed  from  his  earthly  labors.     A  peculiar  in- 


60  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

terest  attaches  to  him  in  consequence  of  his  teach- 
ing in  regard  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  thought 
the  rite  was  far  too  greatly  neglected  in  the  Puritan 
churches.  In  advocating  its  importance  he  spoke 
of  it  as  possessing  a  converting  power.  His  views 
of  the  church  approximated  that  conception  of  it, 
as  an  organic  institution,  which  is  found  in  Presby- 
terianism  rather  than  in  Congregationalism,  which 
constitutes  also  a  bond  of  kinship  between  the  older 
Puritanism  and  the  Anglican  church,  against  which 
for  other  reasons  it  had  revolted.  Mr.  Stoddard 
can  be  easily  conceived  in  some  other  role  than 
that  of  a  Puritan  minister.  He  held,  it  is  true, 
the  ordinary  Calvinistic  theology,  but  he  held  it 
with  a  difference  which  was  his  ovm.  He  was  tlie 
author  of  several  books,  in  which  his  soul  shines 
still  as  that  of  a  kindly,  humane,  and  honest  man, 
to  whom  life  and  its  issues  are  very  real,  whose 
wisdom  is  drawn  from  experience  and  not  from 
speculative  discussion  in  the  schools.  He  made 
prominent  a  doctrine  which  was  afterwards  dis- 
owned as  mystical  or  irrational,  —  the  imputation 
of  Christ's  righteousness  as  the  ground  of  the  sin- 
ner's hope  and  confidence. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Edwards  that  he  should 
have  been  associated  in  his  early  ministry  with 
such  a  man.  Though  he  finally  rejected  Mr.  Stod- 
dard's idea  of  the  Lord's  Supper  as  a  converting 
ordinance,  as  well  as  his  conception  of  the  church, 
yet  the  influence  of  the  elder  pastor  and  his  writ- 
ings remained,  a  leaven  of  practical  wisdom  and 


RELIGIOUS  PERPLEXITIES.  51 

of  certain  theological  tendencies,  which  still  dis- 
tinguish Edwards  from  many  of  his  followers.  Be- 
fore the  death  of  Mr.  Stoddard,  there  occurred  at 
Northampton  a  season  of  unusual  devotion  to  reli- 
gion. Mr.  Stoddard  had  become  experienced  in 
dealing  with  persons  "  under  concern  "  about  their 
salvation.  A  little  work  w^hich  he  had  written, 
called  A  Guide  to  Christ,  etc.,  had  been  compiled 
for  the  help  of  young  ministers.  In  it  we  may 
study  the  questions  which  the  younger  pastor  was 
propounding  to  himseK  in  his  first  years  in  the 
ministry.  They  illustrate  the  dark  and  sombre 
mood  which  marks  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth 
century  in  New  England.  Among  the  questions 
proposed  for  solution  are  such  as  these:  Whether 
God  works  a  preparation  in  the  soul  before  it  goes 
to  Christ  in  faith ;  whether  men  should  be  encour- 
aged in  the  use  of  means  toward  their  conversion ; 
in  what  conversion  consists ;  how  God  can  be  the 
author  of  it  and  yet  man  prepare  himseK  for  it ; 
how  decrees  are  compatible  with  human  liberty; 
in  what  lies  the  unpardonable  sin ;  whether  a  man 
is  ever  justified  in  thinking  that  he  has  sinned 
away  the  day  of  grace ;  whether  the  threatened 
punishments  for  sin  are  out  of  proportion  to  its 
guilt ;  whether  God  is  under  any  obligation  to 
hear  and  answer  the  prayers  of  those  who  are  un- 
converted. With  such  sad,  mysterious  question- 
ings as  these,  the  mind  of  the  New  England  people, 
or  a  large  portion  of  them,  continued  for  genera- 
tions to  be  agitated. 


62  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

IV. 

EDWAKDS,  AS  A  REFORMER.  SERMONS  ON  DE- 
PENDENCE AND  SPIRITUAL  LIGHT.  —  SPECIAL 
AND   COMMON   GRACE. 

The  condition  of  tlie  churches  in  New  England 
at  the  time  when  Edwards  arose  demands  a  few 
words  of  explanation  as  an  introduction  to  his 
theology.  It  was  a  period  of  decline  and  of  dete- 
rioration, of  many  attempts  at  reform  which  only 
ended  in  failure.  The  lamentations  over  the  situ- 
ation are  heard  from  the  time  of  the  withdrawal 
of  the  charter  in  1684,  or  the  closing  years  of  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.  They  began  as  soon  as  it 
was  evident  that  the  unique  and  beautiful  experi- 
ment of  the  Puritan  fathers  was  over,  when  the 
theocracy  which  had  inspired  such  heroism  as  the 
world  had  not  seen  before  was  hastening  to  its 
downfall.  Such  an  event  was  a  catastrophe  of  the 
direst  kind  in  New  England  history.  It  seemed 
to  falsify  great  hopes  and  aspirations.  It  was  as 
if  God  had  turned  away  from  favoring  an  enter- 
prise which  had  His  glory  in  view  as  its  sole  ob- 
ject and  justificastion.  Sore  perplexity  and  con- 
fusion befel  the  religious  mmd  in  proportion  to 
the  jrreatnes^f  its  venture  ctf  faith.  In  his  His- 
tory  of  Massachusetts,  Hutchinson  remarks  that 
the  moral  decline  or  det#U)ration  has  been  exag- 
gerated. We  need  not  demur  to  this  statement 
from  one  who  speaks  with  so  much  authority,  with 


WITCHCRAFT  DELUSION.  53 

an  almost  contem2:)oraneous  knowledge  of  tlie  time. 
But  it  is  not,  after  all,  a  question  of  how  great  was 
the  decline,  but  as  to  how  the  situation  was  re- 
garded by  the  religious  leaders  who  represent  the 
feelinof  of  the  hour.  In  their  view  it  was  a  time 
of  such  religious  coldness  and  apathy  as  to  call 
for  the  judgment  of  Heaven,  if  in  some  way  the 
evil  could  not  be  averted  by  diligent  reform.  And 
indeed  it  was  believed  that  the  Divine  judgment 
had  already  been  visited  upon  the  people  for  their 
deflection  from  the  ways  of  their  fathers.  The 
ffi4iing  that  God  was  incensed  gave  rise  to  a  pre- 
vailing consciousness  of  a  great  wrong  existent  in 
the  community  which  must  needs  be  discovered, 
and  atoned  for  by  deep  repentance.  The  sense  of 
sin,  to  use  -the  religious  expression,  became  deeper 
and  more  pervading. 

There  are  some  things,  some  acts,  which  speak 
louder  than  woYds,  louder  than  the  decisions  of 
synods  or  the  writings  of  private  individuals,  and 
by  these  is  more  truly  interpreted  the  real  condi- 
tion of  the  moment.  The  spread  of  the  delusion 
about  witchcraft,  with  its  attendant  horrors,  was 
only  possible  at  this  dark  hour,  with  its  morbid 
superstitious  fears.  So  far  as  it  was  believed  that 
God,  for  some  mysterious  reason,  had  withdrawn 
His  favor,  so  far  also  was  it  possible  to  believe  that 
restraint  was  removed  from  the  enmity  of  evil 
spirits,  that  devils  were  allowed  to  ravage  the  com- 
munity at  their  will.  The  witchcraft  delusion 
would  have  been  impossible  a  generation  earlier 


54  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

or  later  than  its  actual  date  in  tlie  closing  years  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  the  culmination 
of  the  fears  and  misgivings  which  had  been  long 
gathering  momentum  for  some  such  tangible  out- 
break. And  possibly  also,  as  affording  vent  for 
the  superstitious  excitement,  it  may  have  been  the 
turning  point  of  a  new  era. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  extent  of  the 
moral  or  religious  decline  which  is  so  generally 
bemoaned  in  the  years  that  followed  the  with- 
drawal of  the  charter  from  Massachusetts,  no  one 
can  read  the  records  of  the  time  without  being 
convinced  that  there  was  a  decline,  —  that  morals, 
religious  fervor,  interest  in  public  worship,  were 
not  sustained  at  the  same  high  pitch  as  in  the  best 
days  of  the  theocracy.  The  religious  faith  or 
creed  of  Puritanism  was  also  endangered  by  rival 
or  hostile  creeds,  which  were  now  free  to  be  intro- 
duced and  to  grow  as  they  could  find  supporters. 
The  days  of  repression  and  persecution  were  over. 
There  was  surely  enough  material  for  reforming 
synods  if  only  they  could  get  at  the  root  of  the 
difficulty.  The  chief  recommendation  which  all 
concur  in  making  is  the  revival  and  more  vigorous 
maintenance  of  the  ancient  discipline.  But  how 
could  that,  which  had  declined  from  no  apparent 
reason  but  want  of  faith  or  interest,  be  revived 
again  without  some  great  motive  to  faith  which 
did  not  yet  appear  ?  The  situation  would  indeed 
have  been  a  hopeless  one,  if  it  were  not  that  the 
complaints  and  lamentations  were  in   themselves 


RELATION  OF  CHURCH  AND   STATE.  65 

the  manifestation  of  a  certain  dissatisfaction  and 
unrest,  symbols  of  the  birth,  as  it  were,  of  some 
new  ideal,  heralds  of  a  coming  change.  This 
change  or  reformation,  when  its  advent  was  ac- 
complished, must  bear  some  proportion  to  the 
long  and  bitter  pains  and  agonies  which  had  pre- 
ceded it. 

In  the  confusion  of  thettime,  the  ends  to  be 
achieved  were  not  clearly  seen.  Now  that  they 
have  been  long  since  accomplished,  it  is  easy  to 
see  the  rationale  of  the  process,  and  whither  it  was 
tending.  First,  it  was  necessary  to  reaffirm  the 
principle  of  Puritanism  in  such  an  emphatic  way 
as  to  reach,  if  possible,  the  reason  and  the  con- 
science. In  the  second  place,  it  was  incumbent 
to  readjust  the  relations  of  state  and  church  which 
had  become  involved  in  so  much  confusion.  The 
latter  of  these  ends  was  the  more  important  prac- 
tical issue,  although  it  was  the  theological  prin- 
ciple which  made  the  practical  issue  possible  of 
attainment.  The  dissatisfaction  of  the  time  pro- 
ceeded in  great  pai-t  from  the  condition  of  the 
churches,  deprived  of  the  sympathy  or  support  of 
the  state,  and  not  having  achieved  the  principle  by 
which  the  church  could  exist  and  thrive  through 
an  independent  life  of  its  own.  And  further,  the 
churches  in  New  England  had  mutilated  their 
peculiar  constitution,  diminishing  its  native  vigor 
in  order  to  adjust  it  to  the  relations  with  the  state. 
The  HaK-way  Covenani,  the  concession  of  the 
church  in  order  to  a  more  pliable  connection  with 


56  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

the  state,  was  still  in  force  after  the  state  had  been 
practically  divorced  from  the  church,  — a  continual 
source  of  weakness  and  depression.  At  this  junc- 
ture Edwards  arose  to  do  his  peculiar  work.  If 
it  seem  to  any  as  if  the  story  we  are  about  to 
relate  were  a  petty  or  a  local  one  merely,  without 
universal  relations,  it  may  be  said  that  we  stand 
here  at  the  beginning  of  a  new  cycle  in  human  his- 
tory, in  which  Edwards  is  the  leader,  —  a  cycle 
whose  scope  and  duration  include  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  and  ultimately  the  Church  of  England, 
as  well  as  the  church  in  America.  Modern  ec- 
clesiastical history  may  be  said  to  date  from  tlie 
impetus  given  by  Edwards,  so  far  as  he  reversed 
the  teaching  of  Wy cliff e,  on  which  the  relations 
of  church  and  state  had  been  based  for  four  hun- 
dred years.  The  religious  world  as  we  see  it  to- 
day is  still  regulated  by  the  principles  which  he 
was  the  first  to  enunciate  in  their  fulness  and 
vigor.  To  his  theology  we  now  turn,  asking  the 
interest  of  the  reader  in  perusing  a  chapter  of 
human  thought,  the  like  of  which  cannot  be  read 
elsewhere  in  history. 

It  was  in  the  year  1731  that  Edwards  had  the 
honor  of  being  invited  to  appear  as  a  preacher  in 
the  "public  lecture"  in  the  provincial  town  of  Bos- 
ton. The  occasion  was  a  representative  one  to  the 
young  minister  from  Northamj)ton ;  we  may  take 
it  for  granted  that  his  sermon  also  had  a  repre- 
sentative character,  —  that  like  an  ancient  prophet 
he  felt  called  to  deliver  his  burden.     The  subject 


SERMON  ON  DEPENDENCE.  57 

of  Ills  sermon  was  the  absolute  dependence  of  man 
upon  God,  —  its  more  exact  heading,  God  glori- 
fied in  Man's  Dependence.^  The  sermon  produced 
a  profound  impression.  Its  publication  was  not 
only  demanded,  but  the  ministers  of  Boston,  with 
others,  felt  called  upon  to  bear  their  testimony  to 
Edwards'  worth  ;  —  they  had  "  quickly  found  hiin 
to  be  a  workman  that  need  not  be  ashamed,  despite 
his  j^outh ;  they  thank  the  great  Head  of  the  church 
who  has  been  pleased  to  raise  up  such  men  for  the 
defence  of  evangelical  truth ;  they  express  the  hope 
that  the  college  in  the  neighboring  colony  of  Con- 
necticut may  be  a  fruitful  mother  of  many  such 
sons ;  and  they  congratulate  the  happy  church  at 
Northampton  on  whom  Providence  has  bestowed  so 
rich  a  gift." 

This  event  was  as  significant  in  Edwards'  life 
and  in  the  history  of  New  England  theology  as 
when  Schleiermacher  preached  his  discourse  upon 
the  same  subject,  which  marks  the  date  of  the 
ecclesiastical  reaction  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Of  Edwards,  too,  it  might  .be  said,  as  the  great 
German  preacher  had  then  remarked  of  Spinoza, 
"  that  the  Infinite  was  his  beginning  and  his  end ; 
the  universal  his  only  and  eternal  love."  The  two 
sermons,  however,  have  but  little  in  common  ex- 
cept the  title.  Edwards  does  not  seek  to  show 
that  an  instinct  of  dependence  is  rooted  in  the 
sold,  forming  an  essential  element  in  the  human 
consciousness,  or  that  its  development  is  important 
1  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  1C9,  Worcester  editiou. 


58  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

to  a  complete  human  culture.  He  looks  at  his  sub- 
ject from  the  divine  point  of  view,  not  from  the 
human.  Hmnan  dependence  is  both  true  and  de- 
sirable, because  it  tends  to  humiliate  man  and  to 
promote  the  glory  of  God.  But  none  the  less  was 
Edwards'  sermon  an  epochal  one.  Those  who  lis- 
tened to  it  must  have  felt  that  a  great  champion 
had  appeared  to  defend  the  old  discredited  theol- 
ogy. The  doctrine  of  human  dependence  which 
formed  the  main  idea  of  the  sermon  was  ordinary 
enough  to  a  Puritan  congregation,  but  the  mode  of 
Edwards'  assertion  of  it  was  new.  There  is  an 
emphasis  of  certainty,  an  intensity  of  tone,  as 
though  there  were  some  invisible  combatant  to  be 
overcome,  —  an  excitement  in  the  air  as  if  some 
new  issue  had  arisen.  If  we  interpret  the  sermon, 
it  w^as  the  preacher's  challenge  to  the  age,  —  to  the 
fashionable  Arminianism  which  was  denying  or 
ignoring  the  divine  sovereignty,  which  was  magni- 
fying man  at  the  expense  of  God,  which  was  cheap- 
ening the  gift  of  divine  grace  by  extending  it  to 
all,  instead  of  the  few  whom  God  had  chosen. 

At  a  time,  then,  when  the  prevailing  Deism  rep- 
resented God  as  if  a  passive  agent,  governing  the 
world  by  general  laws  and  second  causes,  as  well 
as  far  removed  from  the  scene  of  human  activity, 
Edwards  presented  Deity  as  immaneiit  and  effi- 
cient will.  The  stress  of  his  conception  is  on  God 
as  will,  rather  than  as  idea  or  reason.  The  power 
which  is  disj^layed  in  every  act  or  exercise  of  the 
human   will    which    tends    to    overcome    sin    or 


THE  DIVINE  SOVEREIGNTY.  59 

strengtlien  right  principle  is  notliing  less  than  the 
power  of  God.  The  deliverance  of  man  from  evil 
is  an  act  of  immediate  divine  efficiency.  It  is  not 
only  from  God,  bnt  the  process  of  redemption  is 
God.  When  it  is  said  that  those  who  are  saved 
have  their  good  in  God,  this  means  that  they  have 
a  kind  of  participation  in  God.  God  pnts  his 
beanty  npon  them,  —  a  sort  of  effusion  of  God  is 
poured  out  upon  the  soul.  It  is  not  so  much  that 
the  Spirit  of  God  works  good  in  the  soul,  but  the 
good  is  in  itself  the  Spirit  of  God,  —  the  two  are 
one  and  the  same.  The  goodness  and  the  right- 
eousness in  the  world  are  therefore  more  than 
mere  moral  qualities  or  attributes :  they  are  alive, 
as  it  were,  in  efficient  Deity ;  they  are  the  imma- 
nent God,  and  not  the  changing  modes  of  hmnan 
conduct. 

Closely  connected  with  this  teaching  about  the 
divine  efficiency  is  Edwards'  assertion  of  the 
divine  sovereignty.  The  word  in  itself  is  not  ob- 
noxious. In  the  earlier  Calvinism,  sovereignty  had 
included  the  call  or  election  of  nations  to  some 
high  struggle  for  liberty  or  moral  advance.  But 
the  word  as  Edwards  uses  it  becomes  synonymous 
with  the  tenet  of  an  individual  election  to  life,  or 
reprobation  to  death.  In  this  form  Edwards  as- 
serts it  as  the  cardinal  principle  of  his  theology. 
He  believes  that  he  has  biblical  evidence  in  its 
support,  for  when  he  defuies  it  he  prefers  to  do 
so  in  words  of  Scripture  ;  —  the  divine  sovereignty 
means   "that  God  has  mercy  on  whom  He  will 


60  THE   PARISH  MINISTER. 

have  mercy,  and  whom  He  will,  He  harcleneth." 
•^•It  also  follows  from  the  doctrine  df  sovereignty,  as 
he  conceives  it,  that  God  was  under  no  obligation 
to  do  anything  for  man.  That  He  vouchsafes  to 
save  men  at  all  is  an  act  on  His  part  of  pure  gra- 
tuitous condescension.  It  is  also  of  mere  grace 
that  the  redemption  is  applied  to  some  and  not 
to  all. 

At  this  point  we  must  pause  for  a  moment  to 
inquire  into  the  process  by  which  such  a  profound 
and  speculative  mind  should  have  reached  this 
conclusion.  Unfortunately  Edwards  does  not  ex- 
plain the  process.  The  foundations  of  this  cardi- 
nal principle  in  his  theology  seem  to  be  sunk  in 
an  abysmal  darkness,  which  he  makes  no  attempt 
to  sound.  Between  the  time  when  as  a  youth  he 
was  writing  his  Notes  on  the  Mind,  and  his  ap- 
pearance at  the  Boston  lecture,  there  is  a  gap  in 
his  mental  history,  which  must  be  filled  out  from 
a  general  knowledge  of  his  thought.  His  early 
philosophy,  as  we  have  seen,  was  thoroughly  Berke- 
leyan  in  its  character.  So  far  as  the  outer  world 
is  concerned,  God  was  conceived  as  the  universal 
substance  underlying  all  external  phenomena.  It 
was  God's  immediate  action  on  the  mind,  in  ac- 
cordance with  His  fixed  and  stable  will,  which  gives 
to  the  mind  the  idea  of  an  external  world.  Things 
in  themselves  have  no  existence  but  only  in  the 
mind  of  God.  God  is  and  there  is  none  else. 
But  does  God's  immediate  efBciency  apply  also  to 
the  thoughts  and   exercises  of  the  human  soul  ? 


DENIAL   OF  HUMAN  FREEDOM.  61 

Upon  tliis  point  Edwards  hesitated.  He  expresses 
himself  to  the  effect  that  liis  thought  needs  to  be  as 
clear  on  God's  relation  to  the  mind  as  it  is  in  re- 
gard to  His  relation  to  the  outer  world.  Nowhere 
in  his  published  works  does  he,  however,  take  up 
the  subject  for  a  full  discussion.  But  there  can 
hardly  be  a  doubt  as  to  the  conviction  toward 
which  he  was  tending  as  a  youthful  tliinker,  —  the 
conviction  which  underlies  his  conception  of  sov- 
ereignty, and  which  affords  the  unfailing  clue  to 
his  purpose.  He  must  have  believed  that  God's 
relation  to  the  mind  and  will  of  man  was  in  har- 
mony with  His  relation  to  visible  nature.  In  the 
invisible  sphere  of  man's  moral  or  intellectual  ex- 
istence, God  was  still  the  universal  substance ;  it 
was  He  that  alone  existed  and  there  is  none  else. 

This  very  significant  transition  seems  to  have 
taken  place  in  Edwards'  mind  as  he  contemplated 
the  phenomena  of  the  human  will.  Here  his  depen- 
dence upon  Locke  helped  to  lead  him  into  a  prac- 
tical denial  of  the  freedom  of  the  human  will.  He 
thought  it  was  sufficient  freedom  to  concede  to 
man,  if  he  were  conceived  as  having  the  power  of 
acting  in  accordance  with  his  inclination.  He 
therefore  denied  to  the  human  will  any  self-deter- 
mining power  —  the  power  to  the  contrary  accord- 
ing to  which  a  man  is  free  to  revise  his  action. 
At  a  very  early  age  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  God  determines  the  will.  He  felt  the  mor^ 
unhampered  in  making  this  conviction  the  ruling 
principle  of  his  theology   because  he  was  at  the 


62  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

same  time  convinced  that  man  was  still  responsible 
for  his  o^vn  acts,  even  if  they  were  done  thi'ough 
(him  by  another.  The  self-determination  of  the 
/will  was  not  essential  to  the  quality  of  human  acts. 
/Praise  and  blame  attached  to  the  act  in  itself, 
[  and  not  to  its  origin  in  a  will  which  possessed 
power  to  the  contrary. 

But  when  Edwards  had  reached  this  momentous 
conclusion  he  was  in  danger  of  making  the  world 
of  human  experience  a  mere  lifeless  machine,  un- 
less somewhere  there  did  exist  the  power  to  the 
contrary,  unless  what  he  had  denied  to  man  he 
were  to  attribute  in  an  increased  degree  to  God. 
The  materialism,  the  atheism,  the  religious  indif- 
ference of  the  age,  would  be  overcome  most  suc- 
cessfully by  asserting  the  freedom  of  the  will  of 
God  in  the  fullest  sense,  as  including  self-determi- 
nation or  the  power  to  the  contrary,  so  far  as  the 
issues  of  human  life  were  concerned.  The  Divine 
will  must  not  be  hampered  or  thwarted  by  the  chains 
of  necessity.  God  must  be  conceived  as  having  the 
ability  to  reverse  His  action.  Hence  followed  Ed- 
wai*ds'  idea  of  sovereignty  as  by  inexorable  logic. 
If  God  chooses  to  redeem  men  from  sin,  He  is  un- 
der no  necessity  to  do  so.  If  He  chooses  to  save 
one  man  rather  than  another,  it  was  because  He 
was  pleased  to  do  so  gf  His  arbitrary  will.  To  rep- 
resent Him  as  willing  to  save  all  alike  would  be  to 
deny  to  Him  a  sphere  where  the  freedom  of  His 
will  can  be  disj^layed  in  the  view  of  all.  In  no 
other  way  can  the  power  to  the  contrary  which  in- 


DEFINITION  OF  SOVEREIGNTY.  63 

heres  in  the  divine  will  be  exhibited  so  manifestly, 
so  unmistakably,  as  in  His  having  mercy  on  whom 
He  loill  ■  have  mercy ^  while  whom  He  icill,  He 
hardeneth.  The  existence  of  evil  in  the  world  is  a 
proof  of  the  divine  sovereignty.  God  was  under 
no  obligation  to  keep  man  from  sinning.  He  de- 
creed to  permit  the  fall,  and  to  order  events  to  its 
accomplislunent.  By  His  deai'ee,  evef y  individual 
of  Adam's  posterity  was  involved  in  his  sin.  In 
all  this  God  was  free  and  sovereign.  "  When  men 
have  fallen  and  become  sinful,  God  in  His  sov- 
ereignty has  a  right  to  determine  about  their  de- 
liverance as  He  pleases,  —  whether  He  will  redeem 
any  or  no,  or  redeem  some  and  leave  the  others. 
If  He  chooses  to  redeem  any.  His  sovereignty  is 
involved  in  His  freedom  to  take  whom  He  pleases, 
and  to  leave  whom  He  pleases  to  perish.'*^ 

With  this  doctrine  of  sovereignty  Edwards 
threw  down  a  challenge  to  the  world  of  his  time. 
We  have  seen  how  in  his  youth  his  soul  had  been 
filled  with  an  unbounded  enthusiasm  as  he  took 
the  idea  of  God  as  the  only  substance,  the  one  uni- 
versal Being.  His  spirit  must  have  been  turned 
with  indignation  when,  entering  his  ministerial 
career,  he  looked  abroad  upon  the  low  level  of  an 
age  which  talked  and  acted  as  if  God  were  not  in 
its  thought ;  as  he  witnessed  the  spectacle  of  a  re- 
ligion which  almost  seemed  as  if  it  could  dispense 
with  God,  so  higldy  did  it  exalt  the  independent 

1  Sermon  On  God's  Sovereignty,  vol.  iv.  p.  549.    Cf .  also  vol.  iv. 
pp.  230,  231,  232,  and  254. 


64  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

faculties  of  human  nature,  which  spoke  of  the 
sober  performance  of  moral  duty  as  if  it  were  a 
substitute  for  the  passionate  devotion  to  a  Being, 
with  its  moments  of  spiritual  joy  and  elevation. 
The  motive  of  his  sermon  on  Dependence  ap- 
pears in  its  closing  paragraph  or  application : 
"  Those  doctrines  and  schemes  of  divinity  thrtt  are 
in  any  respeet  opposite  to  such  an  absolute  and 
universal  dependence  on  God  derogate  from  His 
glory,  and  thwart  the  design  of  the  contrivance  for 
our  redemption." 

In  asserting  the  divine  sovereignty  as  necessa- 
rily involving  the  principle  of  predestination,  Ed- 
wards had  only  done  what  under  similar  circum- 
stances Augustine  had  also  done  in  the  ancient 
church,  or  Calvin  in  the  age  of  the  Reformation. 
But  Edwards  inclines  to  go  beyond  his  predecessors. 
While  the  world  to  his  view  and  theirs  presents 
humanity  as  divided  into  two  great  classes  of  the 
elect  and  the  non-elect,  yet  he  was  not  content  to 
consider  the  non-elect  as  left  by  God  to  their  own 
devices.  God  does  not  merely  pass  over  them,  as 
if  in  negative  fashion,  leaving  them  to  the  opera- 
tion of  general  laws  which  secure  their  destruc- 
tion. The  grace  divine,  which  is  onh^  another 
name  for  immanent,  efficient  Deity,  includes  within 
the  range  of  its  activity  the  evil  and  the  good 
alike.  Wherever  he  looks,  the  world  is,  as  it  were, 
ablaze  with  the  fires  of  omnipotent,  energizing 
will.  To  the  distinction  between  the  elect  and  the 
non-elect  corresponds  another  distinction  between 


SPECIAL  AND   COMMON  GRACE.  QS 

God's  special  grace  and  His  common  grace.  The 
first  secures  salvation ;  the  other  underlies  the 
world  of  affairs,  of  every-day  hfe,  of  moral  du- 
ties, the  world  of  society  and  human  institutions. 
The  common  grace  of  God  carries  with  it  no  sav- 
ing efficacy ;  none  the  less  it  is  essential  to  the 
ordering  of  the  world,  in  order  that  God's  special 
grace  may  have  the  freer  course. 

This  distinction  between  special  and  common 
grace  is  so  important  in  Edwards'  theology  that 
it  deserves  particidar  consideration  ;  for  it  con- 
stitutes in  some  measure  an  original  feature  in 
his  thought.  It  brings  the  whole  world,  and  not 
merely  a  part  of  it,  into  the  sphere  of  the  Divine 
energizing.  It  also  forced  Edwards  to  revise  the 
ordinary  theological  nomenclature  of  his  time.  To 
the  sphere  of  God's  special  grace  he  confines  the 
use  of  the  word  supernatural^  W^le  the  realm  of 
the  natural  includes  the  operations  of  his  common 
grace.  In  ordinary  use,  the  word  supernatural 
meant  the  miraculous  interposition  of  God,  as 
contrasted  wi^h  the  course  of  ordinary  life.  But 
Edwards  had  risen  above  the  necessity  of  attach- 
ing supreme  importance  to  miracle  as  the  highest 
evidence  of  God's  activity  in  the  world.  In  plain 
truth,  he  takes  little  or  no  interest  in  miracles. 
He  makes  them  hold  a  subordinate  place,  as  com- 
pared with  the  internal  evidences  of  the  truth  of 
Christ's  religion.^     By  supernatural  he  means  the 

1  Cf .   Original  Sin,  vol.  ii.  p.  477 ;    also  Work  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  vol.  i.  p.  557. 


66  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

spiritual,  as  something  above  and  distinct  from  the 
natural  life  of  man.  In  this  use  of  the  term,  he 
is  in  accord  with  Schleiermacher  and  Coleridge, 
who  led  the  revolt  of  modern  religious  thought 
against  the  appeal  to  miracle  as  the  final  and  high- 
est evidence  for  Christian  truth. 

But  the  difference  between  Edwards  and  these 
modern  theologians  is  also  as  striking  as  the 
agreement.  In  the  realm  of  the  natural  he  in- 
closes so  large  a  part  of  human  life  as  to  leave 
almost  no  place  or  opportunity  for  the  spiritual 
or  supernatural.  The  natural  does  not  pass  over 
into  the  spiritual  through  moral  conflict  or  pur- 
pose ;  the  law  of  the  spiritual  or  supernatural  is 
not  presented  as  a  gradual  transmutation  of  the 
natural.  The  two  are  separated  as  by  an  infinite 
gulf.  They  are  as  distinct  as  light  and  darkness; 
the  natural  is  the  absence  of  light,  as  light  ceases 
in  a  room  when  the  candle  is  withdrawn.  In  the 
sphere  of  the  natural  life  is  included,  as  has  been 
said,  ahnost  the  whole  scope  of  human  activity. 
Even  conscience,  which  has  been  called  the  voice 
of  God  in  the  soul,  is  not  regarded  by  Edwards 
as  belonging  to  the  spiritual  order.  The  moralities 
of  common  life,  the  duti^  and  the  virtues  which 
human  society  involves  or  which  constitute  its 
bond  of  unity,  the  art  and  purpose  of  human 
government,  the  amenities  and  affections  of  the 
domestic  circle,  —  these  and  most  other  things  that 
can  be  thought  or  mentioned  are  placed  by  him 
on  the   inferior  plane    of   the  natural,  higher  in 


SUPERNATURAL  LIGHT.  67 

rank  but  in  essential  quality  not  different  from  the 
habits  and  instincts  of  the  brute  creation. 

What,  then,  is  this  saving  special  grace,  which 
seems  to  be  in  contrast  with  ahnost  all  that  we 
know  as  good,  which  may  be  in  opposition  to  all 
that  we  esteem  most  dear  ?  Edwards  may  have 
felt  that  he  had  ruled  out  so  much  from  the  spirit- 
ual that  a  supreme  effort  was  required  of  him  to 
demonstrate  the  existence  and  the  reality  of  the 
supernatural.  He  responds  to  the  inquiry  or  the 
doubt  in  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  most  elo- 
quent of  his  sermons.  Its  early  date  is  significant 
as  showing  that  his  theology  had  matured  into  its 
final  form  during  his  first  years  at  Northampton. 
Like  his  sermon  on  Dependence,  its  publication 
was  called  for,  and  it  appeared  in  1734,  when 
Edwards  had  attained  the  age  of  thirty-one.  The 
full  title  of  the  sermon  as  it  stands  in  his  Works 
is :  A  Divine  and  Supernatural  Light  immediately 
imparted  to  the  Soul,  shown  to  be  both  a  Scriptural 
and  Rational  Doctrine.  His  text  was  the  words 
of  Christ  to  Peter  :  —  "  And  Jesus  answered  and 
said  unto  him.  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Barjona ;  for 
flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but- 
my  Fathgt^lChich  is  in  heaven."  The  emphasis  is 
Edwards'  own  when  he  says,  —  "  What  I  would 
make  the  subject  of  the  present  discourse  from 
these  words  is,  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a 
spiritual  and  divine  light  immediately  imparted 
to  the  soul  by  God,  of  a  different  nature  from  any 
that  is  obtained  by  natural  means." 


68  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

A  sermon  so  remarkable  as  this  has  not  escaped 
the  notice  of  those  who  have  made  any  study  of 
Edwards'  theology.  It  resembles  so  closely  the 
later  transcendental  thought  of  New  England  as 
almost  to  bridge  the  distance  between  Edwards 
and  Emerson.  A  recent  American  critic,  speaking 
from  a  literary  point  of  view,  has  called  attention 
to  the  word  sweetness  as  being  Edwards'  character- 
istic word.  But  there  is  another  word  which  re- 
curs quite  as  often  in  his  writings,  and  that,  too,  in 
the  most  important  connections,  —  the  word  light. 
It  is  more  than  an  illustration  of  his  thought : 
light  is  a  word  that  controls  his  thought.  In  com- 
paring the  essential  qtiality  of  revelation  to  light, 
Edwards  is  widely  separated  from  those  who  have 
conceived  revelation  mainly  as  law  addressed  to 
the  conscience.  We  have  here  an  element  in  his 
thought  which  he  assumes  without  discussion  as 
if  unconscious  of  its  deep  significance  —  a  relic,  it 
may  be,  of  his  earlier  attitude  before  he  aban- 
doned the  pursuit  of  philosophy.  In  this  respect 
he  differs  fundamentally  from  his  predecessors  in 
the  Calvinistic  churches,  with  whom  the  legal  ten- 
dency is  predominant.^ 

Closely  related  as  Edwards'  thought  is  to  tran- 
scendental modes  of  speech,  there  is  yet,  however, 

^  Edwards'  view  of  revelation  gives  to  the  reason  an  essen- 
tially religious  function,  making  possible  also  free  theological 
inquiry.  His  view  is  expanded  by  the  late  Bishop  Ewing  of 
Argyle  in  Revelation  Considered  as  Light,  —  a  work  which,  like 
Campbell  On  the  Atonement,  may  be  regarded  as  developing  the 
Edwardian  theology. 


THE  IMMEDIATE    VISION.  69 

a  gr^at  difference.     He  does  not  admit  that  the 
human  reason  has  in  itself  a  divine  quality,  or  that 
it  is  a  spark  of  the  divine  reason,  forming  a  part 
of  the  divine  image  in  man.     There  is  nothing  in 
human  nature,  as  it  exists  since  the  fall,  which  has 
anything  in  common  with  the  divine  nature.     It  is 
only  when  the   divine  and  supernatural  light  has 
been   imparted    that   the   reason    is   purified    and 
quickened  to  behold  the  transcendent  beauty  and 
glory  of  God.     Edwards  assumes,  as  a  first  prin-| 
ciple,   that  when  God   speaks  to  man   His  word 
must  be  very  different  from  man's  word.     There 
is  such  an  excellency  and  sublimity,  such  divine 
perfection,  in  the  speech  of  God,  that  the  words  of 
the  wisest  of  men  must  appear  mean  and  base  in 
comparison.    The  divine  word  is  like  a  fire,  and  as 
a  hammer  that  breaketh  the  rock  in  pieces.     Into 
the  meaning,  the  transcendent  beauty  and  glory, 
the  joy  and  sweetness,  of  the  divine  word,  they 
penetrate  directly  and  intuitively  in  whom  a  divine 
and   supernatural  light  is   shining.     Reason  does 
not  give  this  light,  though  the  light  cannot  come 
where  reason  does  not  exist.     Scripture  is  power- 
less also  to  impart  it,  though  it  cannot  shine  where 
there  is  no  knowledge  of  Scripture.     It  reveals  no 
new  truth  which  is  not  already  in  the  Bible.     In 
this  way  it  differs  from  inspiration,  which  is  the 
unique  mode  of  conveying  new  truth  to  the  world 
as  by  prophets  or  evangelists.    And  yet  this  divine 
and  supernatural  light   is   something  higher  and 
more  to  be  valued  than  inspiration,  or  the  power 


70  THE   PARISH  MINISTER. 

of  prophecy  or  of  miracle.  Inspiration  is  a  lower 
gift,  for  it  is  capable  of  being  imparted  to  those 
who  have  no  supernatural  light,  —  a  Balaam  or  a 
Saul.  But  this  divine  light  is  not  the  mere  exter- 
nal power  of  God :  it  is  of  God's  own  inmost  es- 
sence, it  comes  immediately  and  directly  from  Him ; 
it  is  not  the  acting  of  God  upon  the  soul  from 
without,  but  a  vital  and  personal  force  dwelling 
within  the  soul,  as  if  henceforth  an  organic  ele- 
ment in  its  life  ;  it  is  the  Spirit  of  God  communi- 
cating Himself  to  man.  ^ 

The  effect  of  this  divine  and  supernatural  light 
is  to  give  the  soul  an  insight  into  the  truth  of  the 
Christian  revelation,  revealing  a  view  of  things 
that  are  most  exquisitely  beautiful.  Others  who 
have  it  not  may  yet  have  an  intelligent  opinion 
about  di\T[ne  things,  as  a  man  may  have  some 
knowledge  or  opinion  about  sweet  things  who  has 
not  tasted  them.  But  the  taste  of  divine  things, 
the  realizing  sense  of  what  they  are,  belongs  only 
to  those  whom  God  immediately  enlightens.  This 
light  within  them  —  Edwards  will  not  call  it  the  "  in-» 
ner  light,"  for  he  has  prejudices  against  Quaker- 
ism —  may  come  to  those  to  whom  miracles  would 
have  no  weight  as  evidence  of  the  truth.  The  his- 
torical testimony  of  miracles  must  be  weighed  by 
those  who  have  the  necessary  learning  or  leisure. 
But  the  divine  light  may  come  to  children  and  to 
weak  women,  bringing  with  it  its  own  evidence  of 
divinity.  "  The  evidence  that  they,  who  are  spirit- 
ually enlightened,  have  of  the  truth  of  the  things 


THE   CONSTITUTION  OF  MAN.  71 

of  religion,  is  a  kind  of  intuitive  and  immediate 
evidence.^  They  believe  the  doctrines  of  God's 
word  to  be  divine  because  they  see  divinity  in 
them."  This  light  within  changes  the  nature  of 
the  soul,  assimilating  it  to  the  di\'ine  nature.  This 
light,  and  this  light  only,  has  its  fruit  in  holiness 
of  life. 

But  tliis  divine  and  supernatural  light  must  be 
considered  from  another  point  of  view.  As  Ed- 
wards thought,  it  came  to  but  a  few,  —  the  major- 
ity of  the  race  were  doomed  to  live  without  it. 
The  first  man  had  enjoy6(f^its  full  possession  at 
his  creation.  But  when  he  sinned,  by  rebelling 
against  the  divine  will,  the  supernatural  light  had 
been  withdrawn  ;  and  since  then,  so  far  as  it  had 
been  vouchsafed  to  man,  it  had  been  as  individuals 
only,  by  a  free  and  gracious  act  of  the  divine  sov- 
ereignty. In  all  this,  Edwards'  teaching  resembles 
the  mediaeval  theology  which  had  conceived  the 
divine  and  supernatural  light  as  not  forming  a 
necessary  part  of  the  constitution  of  man,  but 
rather  as  the  donum  sv'pernaturale^  —  something 
superadded  to  his  constitution  by  which  man  is 
made  capable  of  communion  with  God.  While 
the  supernatural  element  is  essential  to  the  perfec- 

^  In  his  Notes  on  the  M'nc? Edwards  had  written  of  Inspiration: 
"  The  evidence  of  immediate  inspiration  that  the  prophets  had, 
when  they  were  immediately  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  God  with 
any  truth,  is  an  absolute  sort  of  certainty  ;  and  the  knowledge  is 
in  a  sense  intuitive,  much  in  the  same  manner  as  faith,  and  spirit- 
ual knowledge  of  the  truth  of  religion. ' '  —  Dwig'ht,  Life  of  Ed- 
wards, p.  691, 


72  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

tion  and  wellbeing  of  human  nature,  yet  it  is  not 
essential  to  the  constitution  of  human  nature.  One 
may  have  everything  needful  to  his  being  man, 
and  yet  lack  its  possession. 

It  might  be  supposed  at  this  point  that  the  situ- 
ation was  not  a  desperate  one.     There  is  still  left 
to  man  the  large  and  noble  sphere  of  the  natural, 
—  the  world  of  political  or  social  or  domestic  life. 
In  this  sphere  there  still  remain  lofty  and  unselfish 
ideals,  tasking  man's  highest  powers,  calling  forth 
patriotism  and  heroism,  and  all  the  manifestations 
of  disinterested  love.     The  divine  and  supernat- 
ural light  may  after  all  be  but  a  delusion,  and  the 
natural   life  the  only  reality.     Such,  indeed,  has 
been  the  inference  drawn  by  the  positivist  or  hu- 
manitarian schools.     But  such  an  inference  was, 
from  Edwards'  point  of  view,  not  only  remote  but 
impossible.     The  withdrawal  of  the  supernatural 
light  from  Adam  and  his  descendants  was  a  catas- 
trophe in  human  history  which  the    imagination 
can  only  imperfectly  describe  or  conceive.    It  must 
be  spoken  of  as  "a  fatal  catastrophe,  a  turning  of 
all  things  upside  down,  and  the  succession  of  a 
state  of  the  most  odious  and  dreadful  confusion." 
It  is  a  state  of  darkness,  woful  corruption,  and 
ruin ;  nothing  but  flesh  without  the  spirit ;  dark- 
ness, "  as  light  ceases  in  a  room  when  the  candle 
is   withdrawn."     Others    also    have    used   similar 
comparisons.     Human  life  without  the  guidance  of 
divine  light  is  like  a  ship  without  its  rudder,  drift- 
ing to  its  destruction.     But  the  situation,  as  Ed- 


THE  PREDETERMINED    WILL.  73 

wards  was  forced  to  describe  it,  is  worse  than  any 
sucli  metaphor  can  portray.  Because  man  is  pos- 
sessed of  a  will,  and  since  the  will,  as  Edwards 
conceives  it,  cannot  exist  in  a  state  of  indifference 
but  is  determined  from  without,  and  that  not  in 
its  subordinate  volitions  only,  but  in  its  predomi- 
nant choice,  it  follows  that  the  human  will  now 
rages  as  violently  against  God  as,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  divine  light,  it  cleaves  vehemently  to  Him. 
We  reach  here  the  negative  aspects  of  Edwards' 
theology,  —  aspects  the  most  a23palling  wliich  can 
be  found  in  any  system  of  philosophical  or  relig- 
ious thought.  The  explanation  of  this  awful  con- 
ception of  humanity  and  its  destiny  is  to  be  found 
again  in  his  denial  of  the  freedom  of  the  human 
will.  Others,  too,  in  the  history  of  the  church,  an 
Augustine  or  a  Calvin,  had  made  the  same  denial, 
but  no  one  before  Edwards  had  grounded  the  de- 
nial in  a  system  of  philosophy  which  called  for 
consistent  application,  and  certainly  no  one  before 
Edwards  had  dared  to  face  the  consequences  which 
the  denial  involved.  If  the  will  by  its  very  nature 
existed  in  a  determined  state,  and  that  not  for  God 
but  against  Him,  then  it  followed  that  in  the  will 
of  every  natural  man  there  was  all  manner  of 
wickedness,  the  seeds  of  the  greatest  and  blackest 
crimes,  wickedness  against  man  and  against  God. 
This  wickedness  is  not  merely  a  potential  or  pos- 
sible thing  :  there  is  in  every  man,  in  virtue  of 
his  birth  or  creation,  actual  wickedness  without 
measure  or  without  number ;  wickedness  perverse, 


74  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

incorrigible,  and  inflexible,  that  will  not  yield  to 
tbreatenings  or  promises,  to  awakenings  or  encour- 
agements, to  judgments  or  mercies,  to  terror  or  to 
love.  The  natural  man,  even  the  little  child,  is  as 
full  of  enmity  against  God  as  any  viper  or  venom- 
ous beast  is  full  of  poison.  Every  man  by  nature 
has  a  heart  like  the  heart  of  a  devil.  Men  are  by 
nature  enemies  to  God,  and  would  dethrone  Him  if 
they  could. 

A  view  like  this  was  not  reached  by  a  study  of 
the  contents  of  the  hiuimn  consciousness :  it  was 
not  the  result  of  either  experience  or  observation 
on  a  minute  or  an  extended  scale.  It  was  an  ab- 
stract conclusion,  deduced  from  the  abstract  prii^- 
ciple  that  the  human  will  could  not  exist  in  a  state 
of  indifference  or  equilibrium;  for  indifference  or 
indecision  pointed  to  a  seK-determining  power,  and 
a  self-determining  power  conceded  to  man  was  a 
practical  atheism,  since  God  was  then  left  at  the 
mercy  of  man,  waiting  to  see  which  way  his  will 
would  turn,  and  consequently  unable  to  foresee  or 
decree  all  things  from  eternity.  But  if  the  will 
of  every  man  was  determined  from  his  birth,  then 
a  will  determined  to  evil  must  be  conceived  and 
described  as  such.  Edwards,  however,  seems  to 
feel  the  difficulty  implied  in  his  abstract  conclu- 
sion. He  represents  men  as  saying  that  they  are 
conscious  of  no  such  enormity  of  wickedness,  or 
that  they  are  aware  of  no  desire  to  dethroiie  God 
from  the  government  of  the  universe.  To  this  he 
replies   by  his   theory   of   God's   common  grace^ 


THE   COMMON    GRACE.  75 

which  is  God's  sovereignty  over  wicked  men,  as 
His  special  grace  is  His  sovereignty  over  His  favor- 
ite and  dear  children.^ 

The  common  grace  of  God  operates  in  two  ways, 
—  either  by  assistance  or  restraint.  According  to 
the  first  of  these  ways,  the  divine  will  may  stimu- 
late the  natural  human  powers  to  the  performance 
of  what  they  otherwise  would  be  unable  or  unwill- 
ing to  do.  This  assisting  grace  may  carry  a  man 
so  far  in  the  direction  of  truth  or  order  that  the 
result  may  almost  resemble  the  work  of  saving  or 
special  grace.  The  action  of  the  natural  conscience 
i^ay  be  thus  increased  in  all  the  grades  of  human 
endeavor,  as  in  political,  social,  or  family  order, 
until  God  makes  the  world  a  habitable  or  endur- 
able place  for  spiritual  men.  But  it  is  primarily 
God's  restraining  grace  which  prevents  the  world 
from  going  rapidly  to  its  destruction,  as  it  would 
otherwise  surely  do.  Thus  in  the  present  order  the 
intensity  of  human  wickedness  is  so  repressed  that 
men  do  not  realize  the  depth  of  their  enmity  to  God. 
For  this  reason  also  they  remain  ignorant  of  the 
malice  that  is  in  them,  and  seem  to  themselves  better 
than  they  are.  The  Divine  efficiency  is  supreme 
in  the  natural  order  as  it  is  in  the  spiritual  order. 
It  extends  to  all  human  customs,  training  and  edu- 
cation, home  influences,  the  voice  of  conscience, 
the  fears  of  evil,  sensitiveness  to  reputation,  tem- 
poral interests,  the  light  of  nature.  By  means  of 
these  and  other  checks,  God  restrains  the  working 

1  Cf.  vol.  iii.  pp  72,  135  ;  vol.  iv.  p.  55. 


76  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

of  human  evil  until  the  dispensation  closes  and  the 
restraint  is  no  longer  needed ;  or  rather  until  the 
glory  of  the  divine  justice  shall  be  better  mani- 
fested by  removing  the  restrictions  which  the  di- 
vine economy  now  imposes. 

To  the  eye  of  Edwards'  imagination,  as  also  to 
the  eye  of  his  reason,  this  world  has  become  the 
scene  of  wellnigh  universal  tragedy.  The  situa- 
tion is  in  some  ways  enhanced  because  of  the  pre- 
vailing unconsciousness  of  the  tragedy  which  life 
involves.  On  the  one  hand  is  humanity,  hating, 
resisting,  defying  God,  ain;iing  at  His  dethrone- 
ment, ready  to  rejoice  even  in  the  thought  of  His 
extinction ;  on  the  other  hand  is  God,  exerting  the 
might  of  omnipotence  to  hold  humanity  in  check 
until  the  moment  comes  when  He  lets  go  His  hold, 
and  precipitates  the  quivering  mass  of  angry,  boil- 
ing hatred  into  the  glowing  fires  of  an  endless 
hell.  Edwards  does  not  draw  back  as  he  contem- 
plates the  scene.  He  studies  it  in  detail,  aiming 
to  make  it  more  real  to  the  imagination,  portray- 
ing it  in  language  which  for  its  boldness  has  not 
been  surpassed.  One  hardly  dares  follow  him,  as 
his  imagination  takes  wing,  with  the  desire  to  see 
the  worst,  and  to  convey  some  conception  of  what 
he  sees.  The  idea  of  tragedy  in  the  ancient  world 
implied  in  the  evolution  of  a  blind  and  cruel  fate, 
the  dreams  and  nightmares  of  the  middle  ages,  the 
pictures  which  Dante  has  drawn  of  souls  in  hell, 
the  visions  of  Milton  describing  the  conscious- 
ness of  demons,  —  none  of  these  surpass,  perhaps 


HUMANITY   UNDER  RESTRAINT.  77 

they  do  not  equal,  the  horror  which  one  encounters 
in  the  sermons  of  Jonathan  Edwards.  For  Ed- 
wards was  a  powerful  preacher,  addressing  a  con- 
gregation with  the  conviction  that  it  was  his  duty 
to  make  them  see  and  feel  the  truth  of  his  con- 
ceptions. '  His  language  takes  a  personal  form, 
urging  the  reality  upon  each  individual  conscience. 

There  may  be  an  appeal  in  his  tone,  since  there  is 
for  some  a  possible  deliverance.  But  even  of  this 
deliverance  it  is  an  indispensable  condition  that 
men  should  acknowledge  their  hatred  of  God,  their 
accumidated  guilt,  which  has  justly  exposed  them 
to  the  divine  wrath.  He  imagines  a  man  demur- 
ring to  this  charge  of  hatred,  and  denying  that  he 
has  ever  felt  any  desire  to  kill  God.  But  if,  says 
the  preacher,  the  life  of  God  were  in  your  reach 
and  you  knew  it,  it  would  not  be  safe  for  an  hour. 
Such  thoughts  as  these  would  then  arise  in  your 
heart :  "  I  have  the  opportunity  now  to  be  set  at 
liberty,  and  need  henceforth  have  no  fear  of  God's 
displeasure  ;  He  has  never  done  justly  by  me  ;  He 
has  no  claim  on  my  forbearance  ;  I  can  rid  myself 
of  Him  without  danger."  No  man  knows  his  own 
heart  who  does  not  realize  that  such  thoughts  as 
these,  and  even  others  too  horrible  and  dreadful  to 
be  mentioned,  would  rise  within  him  if  such  an 
opportunity  were  presented.^ 

Or,  again,  he  paints  a  solitary  man  standing  out 
against  the  background  of  infinite  power  com- 
bined with  infinite  anger.  "  If  you  continue  in 
^  Sermons,  vol.  iv.  p.  48. 


78  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

your  enmity,"  lie  urges  on  sucli  an  one,  "  a  little 
longer,  there  will  be  a  mutual  enmity  between  you 
and  God  to  all  eternity.  It  may  not  have  reached 
this  point  as  yet,  but  at  any  moment  death  may 
intervene,  and  then  reconciliation  is  impossible  for- 
ever. As  you  hate  God,  He  will  hate  yoii  forever. 
He  will  become  a  perfect  enemy,  with  a  perfect 
hatred,  without  any  love,  or  pity,  or  mercy.  He 
will  be  moved  by  no  cries,  by  no  entreaties  of  a 
mediator.  But  tliis  enmity  will  be  mutual ;  for 
after  death  your  own  enmity  will  have  no  restraint, 
but  it  will  break  out  and  rage  without  control. 
When  you  come  to  be  a  fii-ebrand  of  hell,  you 
will  be  all  on  a  blaze  with  spite  and  malice  toward 
God.  Then  you  will  appear  as  you  are,  a  viper 
indeed,  spitting  poison  at  God,  and  venting  your 
rage  and  malice  in  fearful  blasphemies.  And  this 
not  from  any  new  corrugation,  but  because  God  has 
withdrawn  His  restraining  hand  from  the  old  cor- 
ruption." 


V. 


THE   MORAL   GOVERNMENT   OF   GOD.  —  FUTURE 
PUNISHMENT. — JUSTIFICATION   BY   FAITH. 

In  turning  from  the  universal  ruin  in  which 
humanity  is  involved,  to  the  deliverance  which 
God  is  working,  we  meet  another  ruling  principle 
in  Edwards'  theology,  —  the  doctrine  of  God  as 
the  moral  govei^nor  of  the  world.     This  doctrine, 


SOVEREIGNTY  AND  MORAL    GOVERNMENT.     79 

like  that  of  the  divine  sovereignty,  was  deeply  im- 
bedded in  the  Puritan  consciousness.  Closely  as 
the  two  resemble  each  other,  they  are  also  sharply 
distinguished.  The  idea  of  God  as  a  moral  gov- 
ernor introduces  the  conception  of  law  as  regulat- 
ing the  divine  procedure  ;  while  sovereignty  implies 
the  arbitrary  will,  the  free  choice  to  which  none 
can  dictate.  Sovereignty  implies  freedom  from 
law,  while  moral  government  implies  subjection  to 
law.  Although  these  ideas  are  plainly  contradic- 
tory to  each  other,  yet  it  is  this  very  contradiction 
which  gave  life  to  Calvinistic  theology,  necessi- 
tating as  it  did  an  inward  conflict,  raising  issues 
which,  within  the  limits  of  the  Calvinistic  churches, 
were  never  quite  satisfactorily  adjusted.  The  idea 
of  God  as  a  moral  governor  acts  as  a  check  upon 
the  idea  of  His  sovereignty,  reducing  to  some 
extent  the  arbitrary  display  of  power,  forcing,  as 
it  were,  the  divine  will  to  yield  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  divine  justice.  But  where  the  line 
was  to  be  drawn  remained  an  open  question.  In 
proportion  as  sovereignty  was  urged  and  enforced 
would  the  idea  of  a  moral  government  of  the 
world  be  weakened.  In  the  history  of  religion, 
the  divine  sovereignty,  which  is  the  earlier  concep- 
tion, appears  as  yielding  to  the  growing  conviction 
that  God  governs  the  world  in  accordance  with 
law.  Such  had  been  the  course  of  Jewish  history. 
In  Calvinism  also,  in  proportion  as  this  same 
truth  was  felt  to  be  necessary,  had  the  original 
severity  of  the  system  been   mollified,  till  election 


80  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

and  decrees  had  passed  into  a  subordinate  position 
and  gave  but  little  embarrassment. 

The  modification  which  Edwards  was  working 
in  New  England  theology  sprang  partly  from  his 
vigorous  reassertion  of  the  doctrine  of  divine  sov- 
ereignty at  a  period  when  this  conviction  was  be- 
coming a  subordinate  one  in  the  religious  mind. 
From  Edwards'  time  the  New  England  clergy  were 
classed  as  old  or  moderate  Calvinists  on  the  one 
hand,  and  as  new  or  consistent  Calvinists,  with 
reference  mainly  to  this  distinction.  The  increased 
severity  of  Edwards'  theology,  whether  scientific 
or  practical,  was  owing  to  the  deeper  emphasis  he 
laid  ^pon  the  arbitrary,  unconditioned  will  of  God. 
We  may  see  the  situation  at  a  glance,  when  we 
remember  that  the  ruin  of  the  world  is  attributed 
to  divine  sovereignty,  while  the  deliverance,  so  far 
as  it  ^<5^s,  involves  the  necessity  of  an  appeal  to 
moral  law. 

But  there  were  motives  which  forced  Edwards 
to  give  prominence,  as  far  as  he  was  able,  to  the 
idea  of  God  as  a  moral  or  constitutional  governor 
of  the  world.  While  he  never  forgot  that  the  doc- 
trines he  was  maintaining  must  rest  on  Scripture 
for  their  authority,  yet  he  also  recognized  the  rea- 
son as  a*source  of  strength  upon  which  he  always 
felt  at  liberty  to  draw  in  their  defence.  The  rela- 
tion between  reason  and  Scripture  he  never  seems 
to  have  formally  considered ;  but  in  most  of  his 
treatises,  if  we  regard  him  as  making  the  two 
practically  coordinate,  we  shall  do  no  great  in  jus- 


INROADS   OF   ARMINIANISM.  81 

tice  to  his  thought.  Like  every  mystic,  like  An- 
selm,  whom  he  most  resembles  in  his  combination 
of  mysticism  with  dialectics,  he  had  an  almost  un- 
bounded confidence  in  the  powers  of  the  human 
reason.  It  was  also  his  fortune  to  live  in  an  age 
in  wliich  the  appeal  was  generally  taken  to  the  rea- 
son, whether  by  the  friends  or  the  foes  of  the  re- 
ceived theology.  But  when  it  came  to  making  an 
appeal  to  the  reason  in  defence  of  his  theological 
tenets,  the  divine  sovereignty  did  not  serve  his 
purpose  so  well  as  the  resort  to  the  necessities  of  a 
divine  moral  government  which  coidd  be  expounded 
in  accordance  with  the  analogies  of  human  order. 

Among  the  theological  tenets,  which  were  begin-  \ 
ning  to  be  questioned  so  early  as  Edwards'  time, 
may  be  inckided  the  doctrines  of  endless  punish- 
ment, the  Trinity,  the  atonement,  justification  by 
faith,  or  the  imputation  of  Christ's  righteousness  / 
as  the  ground  of  salvation.  Upon  these  doctrines 
Edwards  appears  as  meditating  in  his  first  years 
at  Northampton.  In  their  defence  he  rests  mainly 
upon  the  rulino\  principle  of  God's  moral  gover-  > 
norship  of  the  world.  Another  motive  which  in- 
spires him  in  this  defence  is  a  desire  to  save  the 
©tiurches  from  the  inroads  of  Arminianism.  About 
the  year  1734  that  fatal  error,  as  he  regarded  it, 
was  disturbing  the  peace  of  New  England.  As  a 
deeper  seriousness  appeared  to  be  settling  down 
upon  the  people,  Arminianism  was  offering  what 
seemed  to  him  a  shallow  comfort  to  the  soul.  The 
excitement  at  this  time  must  have  been  intense 


82  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

in  the  parish  at  Northampton  and  the  surrounding 
country  over  the  subtle  progress  of  a  doctrine 
which  seemed  to  imply  that  there  was  no  need  for 
anxiety  about  the  soul's  deliverance  from  impend- 
ing ruin ;  that  religion  Consisted  simply  in  devoilt 
observance  of  church  ordinances,  and  the  perform- 
ance of  the  duties  of  life, — ^"things  which  every  one 
had  the  power  to  fulfil.  It  would  seem  as  if  fami- 
lies were  divided  upon  this  issue,  as  if  a  root  of 
bitterness  springing  up  was  threatening  serious 
trouble  and  confusion.  It  was  under  these  circum- 
stances that  Edwards  proposed  to  himself  the  task 
of  defending  the  traditional  faith.  In  giving  a 
brief  account  of  his  position  upon  the  disputed 
theological  tenets,  regard  will  be  had  chiefly  to  that 
which  is  most  important  and  striking  in  his  thought. 
Any  complete  resmne  or  analysis  of  his  works  bear- 
ing on  these  subjects  is  unnecessary,  as  it  is,  within 
the  limits  of  this  volume,  impossible. 

The  doctrine  of  endless  punishment  Edwards 
regarded  as  so  essential* that  if  it  were  denied,  the 
foundations,  not  only  of  Christian  belief  but  of 
common  morality,  would  be  overthrown.  He  ex- 
presses amazement  that  the  great  Archbishop  Til- 
lotson,  who  has  made  such  a  figure  among  the  new- 
fashioned  divines,  should  have  advanced  an  opinion 
calculated  to  weaken  faith  in  such  an  important 
truth.  If  this  doctrine  were  to  be  abandoned  as 
untrue,  there  would  be  no  evidence  left  that  God  is 
the  moral  governor  of  the  universe.  The  concep- 
tion which  Edwards  had  formed  of  himianity,  as 
% 


HE  WARDS  AND  PUNISHMENT,  83 

deprived  since  its  creation  of  any  divine  supernat- 
ural principle,  made  it  impossible  for  liim  to  liold 
that  the  law  of  God  as  a  moral  governor  could  be 
written  within  the  heart  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  divine  penalties  against  sin  could  be  realized 
through  the  conscience  in  this  present  world.  He 
makes  no  appeal  to  the  himian  consciousness, 
wherein  is  contained,  as  if  in  miniature,  the  picture 
of  God  in  his  relatLon  to  all  that  is  not  God.  Since 
the  conscience  of  the  natural  man  does  not  partici- 
pate in  divine  supernatural  light,  what  else  could 
he  hold  than  that  this  world  is  no  theatre  for  the 
display  of  divine  justice?  The  present  is  rather 
a  confused,  mysterious  dispensation  in  which  God 
is  carrying  on  His  strange  work.  It  is  in  vain  to 
point  men  to  the  traces  of  the  divine  moral  govern- 
ment written  in  the  order  of  human  society.  There 
is,  to  be  sure,  a  certain  artificial  or  external  corre- 
spondence between  the  divine  and  the  natural,  — 
Edwards  never  failed  to  see  this  analogy,  —  but  it 
does  not  go  far  enough  or  deep  enough  to  become 
the  basis  of  a  belief  in  the  moral  government  of 
the  world  by  God.  Everything  here  has  been  so 
involved  in  confusion  and  catastrophe  by  God's 
withdrawal  from  humanity,  that  it  is  to  another 
world  we  must  look  for  the  evidence  that  God  rules 
this  world  in  the  interest  of  eternal  justice. 

It  is  quite  noticeable  that,  in  his  treatise  on  God's 
Moral  Government,  Edwards  appears  as  having 
brooded  over  the  scepticism  of  the  Book  of  Ec- 
clesiastes,  —  tliat  liis  strongest  arguments  for  the 


84  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

necessity  of  endless  punishment  should  be  drawn 
from  the  mixed  conditions  of  human  life  therein 
described.  There  had  been  devout  psalmists  in 
the  same  dark  era  of  elewish  history  who  had  felt 
the  same  scepticism,  but  without  drawing  the  same 
conclusions  ;  who,  when  they  went  into  the  house  of 
God,  discerned  how  even  in  this  world  the  reward 
is  with  the  righteous.     But  Edwards  writes  :  — 

"  For  unless  thore  be  such  a  state  (of  future  rewards 
and  punishments)  it  will  certainly  follow  that  God  in 
fact  maintains  no  moral  government  over  the  world  of 
mankind.  For  otherwise  it  is  apparent  that  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  rewarding  or  punishing  mankind  accord- 
ing to  any  visible  rule,  or,  indeed,  according  to  any  order 
or  method  whatsoever.  .  .  .  Nothing  is  more  manifest 
than  that  in  this  world  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  regu- 
lar equal  disposing  of  rewards  and  punishments  of  men 
according  to  their  moral  estate.  There  is  nothing  in 
God's  disposals  towards  men  in  this  world  to  make  His 
distributive  justice  and  judicial  equity  manifest  or  visi- 
ble, but  all  things  are  in  the  greatest  confusion."  ^ 

One  of  Edwards'  earlier  sermons,  which  he  es- 
teemed as  among  the  most  effective  he  had  ever 

^  Of  God's  Moral  Government,  i.  572.  Edwards  is  oblivious  to 
the  fact  that  the  sense  of  God  as  a  moral  governor  had  grown  up 
among  the  Jewish  people,  not  only  without  an  appeal  to  /a  future 
state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  but  with  no  definite  recognition 
even  of  the  sanctions  of  a  future  life.  It  is  interesting  in  this 
connection  to  recall  the  aphorisms  of  Emerson  on  this  subject, 
such  as  :  "  No  evil  exists  in  society  but  has  its  check  which  coex- 
ists ;  "  "  Punishment  not  follows  but  accompanies  crime ;  ' ' 
"  Base  action  makes  you  base,  holy  action  hallows  you."  —  Cabot, 
Life  of  Emerson,  vol.  i.  pp.  219,  332. 


INFINITE  SIN.  85 

preached,  is  entitled  The  Justice  of  God  in  the 
Damnation  of  Sinners.  To  tliis  sermon  we  turn 
for  the  argument  with  which  he  met  the  rising  un- 
belief before  it  had  as  yet  formulated  its  dogma 
that  endless  punishment  was  incompatible  with 
either  the  justice  or  the  mercy  of  God.  A  sum- 
mary of  his  argument  runs  as  follows.  Every  sin 
deserves  punislnnent  in  proportion  to  its  extent. 
If  there  be  a  sin  infinitely  heinous,  it  is  justice 
which  metes  out  to  such  a  sin  an  infinite  punish- 
ment. The  deerree  of  o'uilt  involved  in  a  sin  is 
measured  by  our  oblio^ations  to  the  contrary.  The 
greater  obligation  we  are  under  to  love,  or  honor, 
or  obey,  so  the  greater  is  the  sin  when  we  refuse 
to  render  the  love,  the  honor,  or  the  obedience.  Our 
obligation  to  these  duties,  in  the  case  of  any  person, 
is  in  proportion  to  his  loveliness,  his  honorableness, 
and  his  authority.  In  these  things  God  excels 
all  other  beings  ;  He  is  infinitely  lovely,  infinitely 
honorable,  and  of  infinite  authority.  Therefore 
sin  against  God  must  be  a  crime  infinitely  heinous 
and  demanding  infinite  punishment.^ 

^  In  the  above  statement  lies  the  gist  of  Edwards'  argument. 
But  he  goes  on  to  remark  that  the  justice  is  more  clearly  appar- 
ent when  it  is  considered  that  sinful  men  are  not  only  gixilty  in 
one  particular  but  are  full  of  sin,  of  principles  and  acts  of  sin, 
till  their  guilt  is  like  a  mountain  grown  up  to  heaven.  In  this 
connection  occurs  the  famous  passage  in  which  is  asserted  the 
doctrine  of  total  depravity.  The  method  by  which  he  reaches 
this  conclusion  is,  as  we  have  seen,  an  a  priori  or  abstract  method, 
following  the  maintenance  of  the  abstract  principle  that  the  hu- 
man will  is  from  birth  controlled  by  a  predominant  choice  of  evil. 
"They  (sinful  men)  are  totally  corrupt  in  every  part,  in  all  their 


86  TBf  PARISH  MINISTER. 

TliiS  argument  of  Edwards,  wliicli  has  been  often 
repeated^  cannot  be  regarded  as  entirely  satisfac- 
tory. But  wliile  the  mind  demurs  to  his  statement, 
there  is  in  it  also  a  certain  element  of  truth,  Avhich 
we  recognize  when  presented  in  some  other  form. 
Had  he  said  that  all  sin  was  under  the  eternal  con- 
demnation of  God,  no  one  could  have  objected. 
But  when  he  identifies  the  sinful  person  with  the 
sin,  he  goes  beyond  Scripture  as  also  beyond  rea- 
son. Then  the  objection  is  immediately  raised 
that  a  person  committing  an  infinite  sin  should  at 
least  be  aware  of  its  infinite  enormity,  committing 
the  sin  with  the  full  consciousness  of  its  guilt. 
But  Edwards  does  not  trouble  himself  with* the 
utterance  of  the  consciousness.  The  infinite  sin 
may  be  committed  unconsciously ;  indeed,  it  has 
been  already  committed  by  the  unconscious  child 
at  its  birth. 

There  is  an  objection,  however,  which  he  felt 
obliged  to  meet,  —  a  common  objection  at  the  time 
to  the  prevailing  Calvinism,  —  that  the  decrees  of 
God  have  made  sin  necessary ;  that  the  corruption 
of  human  nature  being  unavoidable  reduces  the 
degree  of  its  guilt.  In  meeting  this  objection  he 
argues  that  men,  in  their  relations  with  each  other, 

faculties  and  all  the  principles  of  their  nature,  their  understand- 
'ing-s,  and  their  wills  ;  and  in  all  their  dispositions  and  affections, 
their  heads,  their  hearts,  are  totally  depraved  ;  all  the  membei'S 
of  their  bodies  are  only  instruments  of  sin ;  and  all  their  senses, 
seeing',  hearing,  tasting,  are  only  inlets  and  outlets  of  sin,  channels 
of  corruption."  Cf.  sermon  on  The  Justice  of  God,  etc.,  vol.  iv. 
p.  230. 


HUMAN  ACCOUNTABILITY.  87 

make  no  siicli  allowances.  They  treat  their  fellow- 
men  as  if  the  necessity  or  certainty  of  their  evil 
actions  were  compatible  with  full  responsibility  ; 
they  freely  attribute  to  their  fellows  an  original 
perverse  disposition,  as  if  this  aggravated  their 
guilt.  Why,  then,  should  the  case  be  different  with 
God?  One  can  hardly  believe  that  such  an  argu- 
ment could  be  seriously  urged.  But  the  inherent 
weakness  of  his  theology  was  here  exposed,  and  he 
resorted  to  any  expedient  to  meet  the  difficulty. 
He  was  forced  to  appeal  to  the  divine  sovereignty 
as  a  last  refuge,  when  appeal  to  God's  moral  gov- 
ernment was  no  longer  possible.  He  is  not  sure 
that  he  understands  all  which  the  divine  sover- 
eignty implies  ;  but  of  this  he  feels  sure,  that  God 
in  the  exercise  of  His  sovereign  will  may  not  only 
permit  sin,  but  by  permission  may  dispose  and 
order  it :  for  the  only  alternative  is  blind  and  un- 
designing  chance.^  At  this  point  in  his  theology, 
upon  which  everything  hinges,  he  takes  refuge  in 
darkness,  not  in  light.  What  he  needed,  what 
he  was  sincerely  striving  after,  was  some  formula 
which,  while  expressing  the  relationship  of  human 
sinfidness  to  the  order  and  nature  of  things,  shoidd 
not  impute  to  God  complicity  with  or  responsibil- 
ity for  its  origin.  But  this  he  could  not  do  so 
long  as  he  denied  the  self -determining  power  of 
the  human  will.  The  desired  formula  may  not  yet 
have  been  reached ;  but  in  some  respects  this  ques- 
tion of  the  ages  is  nearer  a  truer  solution  in  prd- 
1  Sermon  On  Gocfs  Justice,  etc,  vol.  iv.  pp.  230,  231. 


i 


88  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

portion  as  its  rightful  place  is  conceded  to  human- 
ity, and  freedom  of  the  will  allowed  to  be  its  in- 
alienable prerogative.  It  may  ultimately  appear 
that  the  possibility  of  sin  eternally  exists  as  the 
reverse  or  opposite  implied  in  righteousness  ;  that 
the  doing  of  a  righteous  act  involves  the  contem- 
poraneous recognition  of  the  sin  and  its  condemna- 
tion. Thus  sin  may  come  into  actual  existence 
through  the  human  will,  which  approves  the  wrong 
instead  of  the  right ;  while  the  divine  will  and  the 
divine  righteousness  make  sin  an  object  of  eternal 
condemnation.^  The  difficulties  of  the  subject  are 
great.  It  is  incumbent  on  us  to  recognize  them 
when  criticising  a  great  thinker  wdio  was  strug- 
gling in  the  toils.  None  the  less  is  it  necessary  to 
insist  that  his  failure  was  a  momentous  one,  that 
if  not  his  words,  yet  his  thought  points  directly  to 
God  as  the  author  of  evil. 

Under  the  principle  of  God's  moral  government, 
and  not  of  his  sovereignty,  falls  what  is  known  in 
theology  as  the  doctrine  of  atonement.  '^From  the 
point  of  view  of  sovereignty  there  would  be  no 
necessity  for  atonement.  In  Mohammedanism, 
where  sovereignty  is  the  supreme  and  sole  theo- 
logical principle,  no  need  is  felt  for  satisfying  the 
divine  justice.  God  may  pardon  whom  He  will,  on 
whatever  grounds  His  sovereign  will  may  dictate. 
It  had  therefore  constituted  a  great  advance  in 
Latin  theology,  as  also  an  evidence  of  its  immeas- 

^  Cf.  Royce,  Religion  of  Philosophy,  p.  449,  for  an  admirable 
statement  of  this  point. 


AN S ELM  ON    THE  ATONEMENT.  89 

urable  superiority  to  Moliammedanism,  wlien  An- 
selm  for  the  first  time,  in  a  clear  and  emphatic 
manner,  had  asserted  an  inward  necessity  in  the 
being  of  God  that  His  justice  should  receive  satis- 
faction for  the  affront  which  had  been  offered  to  it 
by  human  sinfulness.  So  deep  was  this  necessity, 
as  Anselm  conceived  it,  that  even  the  doctrines 
of  the  Trinity  and  of  the  Incarnation  had  been 
interpreted  with  reference  to  tliis  end.  God  had 
become  man  in  order  that  as  God-man  he  might 
fidfil  the  requirements  of  the  divine  justice.  It 
seems  also  to  have  been  assumed  by  Anselm, 
though  upon  this  point  there  may  be  some  doubt, 
that  punislmient  or  suffering  in  some  form  consti- 
tuted the  inmost  quality  of  the  offering  which  sat- 
isfied the  justice  of  God. 

Such  had  been  substantially  the  view  which  Cal- 
vin had  received  by  tradition,  but  to  which  he  had 
also  accorded  a  vital  place  in  his  theology.  As 
such  it  had  prevailed  in  the  Reformed  or  Puri- 
tan chiu'ches,  and  was  now  announced  again  ^ith 
equal  emphasis  by  Edwards.  In  his  treatise,  en- 
titled Of  Satisfaction  for  Sin,  he  repeats  the  prem- 
ises of  Anselm  and  draws  the  same  conclusion. 
His  mode  of  presenting  the  subject  possesses  no 
special  significance  in  the  way  of  originality  of 
treatment,  though  it  is  characterized  by  the  fresh- 
ness and  intensity  of  utterance  which  marks  the 
independent  thinker.  And  yet  this  small  treatise 
on  the  atonement  is  among  the  most  remarkable 
of  Edwards'  writings,  as  containing  the  germ  of  a 


90  TEE' PARISH  MINISTER. 

departure  from  received  views  of  the  atonement,  — 
a  profound  hint  which  had  been  overlooked  for 
generations,  until  in  our  own  age  it  gave  birth  to 
a  thoughtful  and  spiritual  discussion  of  the  great 
theme,  such  as  it  had  never  before  received  in  any 
age  of  the  church. 

Edwards  lived  at  a  time  when  the  belief  was 
beginning  to  prevail  that  God  pardoned  a  sin- 
ner simply  on  condition  of  his  repentance,  —  that 
therefore  no  necessity  existed  for  such  a  costly  pro- 
pitiation of  the  divine  justice  as  was  involved  in 
the  sufferings  and  death  of  Clirist.  Edwards,  of 
course,  rejected  such  a  view,  on  the  ground  that 
such  repentance  would  be  inadequate  as  a  compen- 
sation for  sin.  But  while  rejecting  it  he  admitted 
also  that,  if  there  could  be  an  adequate  repentance 
or  sorrow,  it  would  be  an  equivalent  for  an  infinite 
punislunent.  It  is  requisite,  so  he  argues,  that 
God  should  2)unish  sin  with  an  infinite  punish- 
ment, "unless  there  be  something  in  some  measure 
to  balance  this  desert,  —  either  some  answerable 
repentance  and  sorrow  for  it,  or  other  compensa- 
tion." ^  It  did  not  occur  to  him  that  Christ,  in- 
stead of  bearing  the  penalty  of  an  infinite  j)unish- 
ment,  might  be  conceived  as  offering  an  infinite 
repentance  and  sorrow  which  would  cover  all 
human  transgression.  He  made  the  extraordinary 
admission  of  the  acceptability  before  God's  justice 
of  such  a  repentance,  and  then  passed  it  by  as  if 
something  irrelevant  which  demanded  no  further 

1  Of  Satisfaction  for  Sin,  vol.  i.  p.  583. 


McLEOD   CAMPBELL  91 

notice.  But  the  idea,  which  flashed  before  him 
and  disappeared,  was  like  an  open  vision  to  Camp- 
bell, a  theologian  of  Scotland,  —  the  land  where 
Edwards'  influence  has  been  felt  as  in  no  other 
country,  —  who,  in  his  great  work  on  the  atonement, 
took  up  the  theory  of  an  adequate  repentance  ac- 
complished by  Christ,  making  it  a  means  of  eman- 
cipation from  what  had  become  to  him  not  only  a 
narrow  but  a  false  theology.  As  working  out  a 
thought  which  Edwards  had  originated  and  sanc- 
tioned, Campbell  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as 
showino:  what  manner  of  man  Edwards  himself 
might  have  been  at  a  later  day.^ 

But  with  Edwards,  as  we  have  seen,  the  mediae- 
val, the  feudal  conception  of  Deity  as  an  absolute 
sovereign,  was  a  controlling  principle  from  which 
he  could  not  escape.  God,  he  argues,  is  as  capable 
of  receiving  satisfaction  as  He  is  of  receiving  in- 
jury. The  injury  done  to  the  honor  of  His  maj- 
esty calls  loudly  for  reparation.  Humanity  had 
inc\jrred  a  debt  to  God  which  must  be  paid  to  the 
uttermost  farthing.  Such  a  debt  infinite  in  amount 
must  be  paid,  if  paid  at  all,  by  an  infinite  being. 

^  Dr.  Campbell,  in  coraparrng'  Edwards  -with  Owen,  a  distin- 
guished theologian  of  the  seventeenth  century  held  in  high  re- 
pute especially  among  Independents,  remarks:  "Owen's  clear 
intellect  and  Edwards'  no  less  unquestionable  power  of  distinct 
and  discriminating  thought,  combined  with  a  calmer  and  more 
weighty  and  more  solemn  tone  of  spirit,"  etc.  Cf.  Nature  of  the 
Atonement,  p.  51.  And  again :  "  The  pages  of  Edwards  especially 
I  have  read  with  so  solemn  and  deep  an  interest  as  listening  to 
a  great  and  holy  man."  p.  54. 


92  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

Clirist  therefore  bore  tlie  punislinient  of  sin,  suf- 
fering, in  the  place  of  the  elect  for  whom  He  died, 
a  penalty  which  was  the  equivalent  of  their  endless 
misery.  The  satisfaction  which  Christ  renders  to 
the  divine  justice,  while  it  consists  in  a  deep  and 
bitter  sense  of  the  horror  and  heinousness  of  sin, 
becomes  to  the  imagination  a  more  fearful  thing 
because  it  is  undergone  apart  from  any  alleviatioiil 
of  the  divine  love :  God  withdraws  from  Him  in 
the  agcfeiy  upon  the  cross,  leaving  Him  alone  in 
the  power  of  Satan,  to  realize  all  that  the  lost  may 
suif  er  jn  hell. 

The  question,  to  whom  are  the  benefits  of 
Christ's  atonement  applicable,  and  how  are  they 
to  be  obtained,  leads  to  the  discussion  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Justification  by  Faith.  At  a  later  stage 
in  New  England  theology  the  controversy  arose  as 
to  whether  Christ  died  for  all  or  only  for  the  elect. 
Edwards  assumes  the  latter  conclusion,  as  if  an 
axiom  in  theology.  The  elect  among  humanity,  as 
he  regards  them,  differ  in  so  vital  a  manner  from 
tlue  non-elect  that  they  almost  constitute  a  differ- 
ent race,  as  if  God  were  evolving  out  of  the  mass 
of  human  Beings  a  certain  higher  order  or  grade 
of  existence.  The  prominence  assigned  to  elec- 
tion essentially  modifies,  therefore,  the  doctrine  of 
justification.  The  locus  classicus  on  this  great 
doctrine,  — ''  Therefore,  being  justified  by  faith,  we 
have  peace  with  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord,"  is  not  the  text  of  Edwards'  discourse.  He 
chooses  rather  a  cognate  passage  in  Paul's  epistles, 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH,  93 

which  brings  out  a  somewhat  different  shade  of 
meaning:  —  "But  to  him  that  worketh  not,  but 
believeth  on  Him  that  justifieth  the  ungodly,  his 
faith  is  counted  for  righteousness."  In  Luther's 
conception,  who  first  proclaimed  the  doctrine,  it  is 
the  word  fii It h  which  unseals  the  mystery  of  God's 
dealings  with  the  human  soid.  Hence  the  pro- 
found inwardness  of  the  German  theology  since 
Luther's  time,  which  has  sought  to  unfold  the 
contents  of  the  human  consciousness,  as  if  fherein 
also  were  to  be  traced  the  natural  workings  of  a 
divine  spirit.  But  with  Edwards  it  is  not  fsiith,^as 
represe]iting  an  inward  process,  on  which  the  em- 
phaS)K  falls.  The  doctrine  of  justification  is,  in  his 
view,  but  another  confirmation  of  the  principle 
announced  in  his  Boston  sermon,  —  the  entire  and 
absolute  dependence  of  man  upon  God,  It  is  not 
by  him  that  worketh,  but  by  God  that  justifieth 
the  ungodly. 

And  still  there  is  something  significant  in  Ed- 
wards' devoting  a  treatise  to  Justification  by  Faith. 
It  seems  ahnost  like  a  relic  of  an  earlier  theology, 
something  intruded  into .  an  uncongenial  sphere. 
The  phrase  itself  was  passing  into  disuse.  Under 
the  influence  of  what  is  known  in  philosophy  as 
Nominalism,  the  principle  of  individualism^^as 
applied  to  redemption,  and  each  man  stood  by 
himself  and  for  himself  in  the  process  of  salva- 
tion. The  earlier  conception  of  unputation,  by 
which  in  virtue  of  a  membership  in  Christ  the 
merits  and  righteousness  of  the  Head  of  the  race 


94  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

may  be  claimed  as  tlieir  own  by  every  member  of 
His  body,  had  begun  to  seem  as  unreasonable  as  it 
was  obnoxious.  Edwards  was  then  reaffirming  in 
the  unsympathetic  hearing  of  liis  generation  the 
doctrines  of  realism,  —  the  solidarity  of  all  men  in 
Adam,  the  first  man,  who  is  of  the  earth  earthy ; 
and  the  solidarity  of  the  redeemed  in  Christ,  the 
second  man,  who  is  the  Lord  from  heaven.  Against 
the  popular  tendency  which  held  that  each  man 
must  suffer  his  own  punislunent,  or  stand  in  the 
lot  of  his  own  righteousness  at  the  end  of  the 
days,  Edwards  maintained  that  Cln'ist  had  borne 
the  punishment  and  achieved  the  righteousness, 
by  which  believers  in  Him  were  exempted  from 
the  endless  fate  which  threatened  them,  and  might 
claim  His  achievements  as  their  title  to  eternal 
life. 

So  vital  was  this  relationship  to  Christ,  as  Ed- 
wards conceived  it,  that  it  became  with  him  an 
underlying  truth,  in  the  light  of  which  Scripture 
must  be  interpreted.  The  Arminians  urged  that 
the  Bible  was  full  of  passages  or  exhortations 
which  implied  that  men  were  rewarded  by  God 
for  the  merit  of  their  own  virtue  and  obedience. 
Every  man  shall  receive  his  own  reward  accord-' 
ing  to  his  oton  labor.  He  who  gives  to  drink  a 
cup  of  cold  loater  only  in  the  name  of  a  disciple 
shall  in  no  wise  lose  his  reward.  Thou  hast  a 
few  names  even  in  Sardis  tchich  have  not  defiled 
their  garments  ;  and  they  shall  walk  with  me  in 
white  because  they  are  worthy.    To  these  instances, 


IMPUTED  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  95 

and  others  like  them,  Edwards  replies  that  beneath 
the  obedience  and  the  virtue  lies  the  merit  of  Christ. 
This  alone  gives  to  human  deeds  their  efficacy  in 
the  sight  of  God.  "  That  little  holiness  and  those 
feeble  acts  of  love  and  grace  receive  an  exceeding 
value  in  God's  sight,  because  He  beholds  those 
who  perform  them  as  in  Christ,  and  as  it  were 
members  of  one  so  infinitely  worthy  in  His  eyes." 
The  obedience  of  the  saints  is  as  if  the  obedience 
of  Christ ;  their  sufferings  fill  up  the  measure  of 
the  sufferings  of  Christ. 

Difficult  or  obscure  as  this  teaching  may  appear, 
it  has  always  had  a  representation  in  the  church. 
It  found  an  early  expression  in  the  profoundest 
of  the  ancient  fathers,  as  when  it  was>  said  that 
humanity  had  suffered  and  died  in  Christ,  and 
with  Him  had  risen  again  to  a  higher  life.  It  was 
a  teaching  which  had  survived  the  Middle  Ages, 
taking  on,  though  it  did,  a  perverted  form  in  the 
belief  that  the  merits  of  departed  saints  were 
capable  of  a  transfer  to  the  living,  in  view  of 
some  consideration  offered  to  the  treasury  of  the 
church.  With  Luther  it  had  been  revived  in  a 
purer  form,  and  under  the  designation  of  imputa- 
tion had  been  accepted  in  the  churches  of  the  Ref- 
ormation without  dissent.  Edwards  also  held  it, 
but  with  a  certain  emphasis  of  his  own,  which 
made  it  subserve  at  the  same  time  the  doctrine  of 
the  divine  sovereignty,  or  of  man's  absolute  depen- 
dence upon  God.      The  following  quotation  illus- 


96  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

trates  in  a  characteristic  way  one  leading  motive 
in  giving  prominence  to  the  doctrine :  — 

"  Seeing  we  are  such  infinitely  sinful  and  abominable 
creatures  in  God's  sight,  and  by  our  infinite  guih  have 
brought  ourselves  into  such  wretched  and  deplorable  cir- 
cumstances, and  all  our  righteousnesses  are  nothing,  and 
ten  thousand  times  worse  than  nothing,  if  God  looks 
upon  them  as  they  be  in  themselves,  is  it  not  immensely 
more  worthy  of  the  infinite  majesty  and  glory  of  God 
to  deliver  and  make  happy  such  poor,  filthy  worms,  such 
wretched  vagabonds  and  captives,  without  any  money 
or  price  of  theirs,  or  any  manner  of  expectation  of  any 
excellency  or  virtue  in  them,  in  any  wise  to  recommend 
them  ?  Will  it  not  betray  a  foolish,  exalting  opinion  of 
ourselves,  and  a  mean  one  of  God,  to  have  a  thought  of 
offering  anything  of  ours  to  recommend  us  to  the  favor 
of  being  brought  from  wallowing  like  filthy  swine  in 
the  mire  of  our  sins,  and  from  the  enmity  and  misery 
of  devils  in  the  lowest  hell  to  the  state  of  God's  dear 
children,  in  the  everlasting  arms  of  His  love,  in  heav- 
enly glory  ;  or  to  imagine  that  this  is  the  constitution  of 
God,  that  we  should  bring  our  filthy  rags,  and  offer 
them  to  Him  as  the  price  of  this."  ^ 

The  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  gained 
nothing  in  attractiveness  by  its  association  with 
Edwards'  conception  of  the  divine  sovereignty. 
But  there  were  also  other  reasons  which  23revented 
him  from  seeing,  as  he  might  have  done,  the  full 
force  of  the  truth  which  he  was  advocating.  He 
regards  the  relation  of  an  elect  humanity  to  Christ 
^  Justification  by  Faith,  vol.  iv.  p.  131. 


CHRIHT  AND  HUMANITY.  97 

as  an  unique  as  well  as  vital  one  ;  but  he  does  not 
attempt  to  define  the  relationship,  or  to  seek  for  it 
an  eternal  basis  in  the  very  nature  of  man's  relation- 
ship to  God.  There  is  a  curious  and  somewhat 
indefinite  allusion,  in  his  treatise  on  Justification,^ 
to  those  who  dislike  such  expressions  as  "  coming 
to  Christ,"  or  "receiving  Christ,"  or  being  "in 
Clirist."  These  persons  a<re  also  alluded  to  as  clis- 
cjusted  with  the  word  "  union  "  when  applied  to  the 
intimate  bond  which  exists  between  Christ  and  the 
sold  ;  they  regarded  these  expressions  as  obscure 
metaphors  which  might  at  one  time  have  had  some 
meaning,  but  as  now  no  longer  intelligible.  Ed- 
wards treats  these  objectors  with  a  certain  amount 
of  deference,  as  if  anxious  to  say  nothing  wliich 
woidd  alienate  them  still  further,  as  if  he  would 
gain  their  consent  to  his  argument  by  any  reason- 
able concession  to  their  prejudice.  But  what  may 
be  noted  as  singidar,  and  as  calling  for  an  explana- 
tion, is  the  fact  that  he  seems  to  be  indifferent  to 
the  exact  phraseology  of  the  metaphors,  which  he 
admits  them  to  be ;  he  is  willing  to  use  other  words 
if  they  are  preferred ;  he  will  speak  of  a  relation 
to  Christ,  instead  of  union  with  Him.  He  regards 
it  as  foreign  to  his  purpose  to  determine  regard- 
ing the  nature  of  the  union  with  Christ,  and  re- 
fuses to  be  dragged  into  controversy  over  it.  One 
would  have  supposed  that  it  was  essential  to  his 
argument  to  determine  this  very  thing,  whether 
Christ  stands  in  an  eternal  organic  relationship  to 
1  Vol.  iv.  pp.  70  ff. 


98  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

the  soul,  and  what  the  ground  of  this  relationship 
is.  It  is  not  that  Edwards  does  not  believe  in  thi» 
relationship ;  on  the  contrary  it  is  the  comparison 
of  the  vine  and  the  branches,  or  the  marriage 
union  between  husband  and  wife,  which  sets  forth 
to  his  mind  the  relation  between  Christ  and  his 
disciples.  But  why  is  he  so  cautious  and  so  re- 
served at  this  critical  juncture  ?  He  even  quotes 
a  passage  from  Archbishop  Tillotson  to  the  effect 
that  the  union  between  Christ  and  true  Christians 
is  a  vital  one,  and  not  merely  relative ;  and  he 
remarks  of  TiUotson  that  he  is  "  one  of  the  great- 
est divines  on  the  other  side  of  the  question  in 
hand."  The  inference  is,  that  if  Tillotson  held 
to  a  vital  union  and  not  a  mere  relation  of  some 
lesser  kind,  the  idea  cannot  be  altogether  disgust- 
ing, or  irrational,  or  dangerous. 

The  passage  we  are  criticising  is  a  curious  one. 
Perhaps  it  is  more  :  it  may  be  prophetic  in  its  very 
obscurity  of  the  coming  disruption  in  the  New 
England  churches  ;  as  if  we  stood  at  the  remote 
sources  of  the  schism,  and  were  watching  the  be- 
ginnings of  disaffection  with  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity.  If  this  supposition  be  right,  then  Ed- 
wards was  silent  at  a  time  when  he  should  have 
spoken.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  motive  of 
his  silence,  or  of  his  unusual  moderation  and  de- 
ference towards  those  who  oppose  him,  he  cannot 
be  suspected  of  any  want  of  faith  in  the  fuU 
deity  of  Christ.  It  is  perhaps  the  most  reasona- 
ble explanation,  that  he  was  silent  because  he  saw 


NECESSITY  FOR  THE  INCARNATION.  99 

no  inward  significance  in  that  relationship  between 
God  and  man  by  which  Christ  becomes  necessa- 
rily the  Head  of  a  redeemed  humanity.  The  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity,  as  he  then  held  it,  threw  no 
light  upon  the  creation  as  subsisting  in  Christ.  He 
subordinated  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation  to  the 
necessity  of  an  atonement.  It  must  have  been  at 
this  stage  of  his  mental  progress,  that  he  wrote: 
"  The  necessity  of  Christ's  satisfaction  to  divine 
justice  is,  as  it  were,  the  centre  and  hinge  of  all 
doctrines  of  pure  revelation.  Other  doctrines  are 
of  little  importance  comparatively  except  as  they 
have  respect  to  this."  ^  And  again,  even  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  is  held  in  abeyance  to  the 
divine  sovereignty  ;  — ••'  It  seems  to  have  been  very 
much  on  this  account  that  it  was  requisite  that 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  itself  shoidd  be  revealed 
to  us ;  that,  by  a  discovery  of  the  concern  of  the 
several  divine  persons  in  the  gi'eat  affair  of  our 
salvation,  we  might  the  better  understand  and  see 
how  all  our  dependence  in  this  affair  is  on  God, 
and  our  sufficiency  all  in  Him  and  not  in  our- 
selves." ^ 

Passages  like  these,  when  taken  also  in  connec- 
tion with  the  general  tendency  of  Edwards'  thought, 
indicate  that  the  Incarnation  must  depend,  in  the 

1  Mysteries  of  Scripture,  vol.  iii.  p.  542.  Cf .  also  Work  of  Re- 
demption, where  the  Incarnation  is  subordinated  to  the  Atone- 
ment :  "  He  was  born  to  that  end  that  He  might  die  ;  and  there- 
fore He  did,  as  it  were,  begin  to  die  as  soon  as  He  was  born." — 
Vol.  i.  p.  412. 

'■^  Justification  by  Faith,  vol.  iv.  pp.  130,  154. 


100  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

last  resort,  on  the  divine  sovereignty  as  its  ground 
and  justification.  For  sovereignty  implies,  as  lie 
construed  it,  that  when  man  had  sinned  God  was 
under  no  obligation  to  save  him  from  the  ruin 
yvhich  sin  had  wrought.  If  God  should  decide  to 
save  any  at  all.  He  was  absolutely  free  to  save 
whom  He  chose.  It  is  only  those  whom  God  elects 
to  whom  Christ  stands  related  in  the  intimate  bond 
of  union  symbolized  by  the  figure  of  the  vine  and 
the  branches.  There  was,  therefore,  no  eternal 
necessity  for  the  Incarnation  in  the  nature  of 
things.  It  is  reduced  to  a  contingent  event  de- 
pending on  the  arbitrary  will  of  God.  Plence 
Edwards  felt  restrained  when  the  question  arose 
as  to  the  nature  and  ground  of  that  union  with 
/Christ,  which  many  had  come  to  dislike  as  indicat- 
;^''"  ing  some  mystical,  obscure  relationship  no  longer 
possessing  any  significance  to  the  eye  of  faith  or 
reason.  He  did  not  feel  called  upon,  when  treating 
of  justification  by  faith,  to  carry  the  process  back 
to  its  final  origin  in  an  arbitrary  will.  Elsewhere, 
as  when  treating  of  God's  sovereignty,  or  of  the 
origin  of  sin,  he  pushes  the  argument  to  its  ex- 
treme conclusion.  But  there  was  something  in  the 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  which  pointed  in 
another  direction,  away  from  a  sovereign  or  arbi- 
trary will  to  some  etei'nal,  divine  constitution  of 
things,  of  which  the  divine  will  was  the  executive 
expression.  As  St.  Paul  had  presented  the  great 
doetrine  after  emerging  from  Judaism,  it  included 
an   organic  relationship  of  every  soul  to  Christ ; 


CONCEPTION    OF  HUMAN  NATURE.  101 

there  was  a  certain  divine  root  in  every  man's  be- 
ing which,  when  discerned  by  faith,  made  it  pos- 
sible for  him  to  believe  that,  however  active  or 
dominant  the  power  of  sin  within  him,  yet  his 
whole  nature  was  not  identified  with  sin ;  that  in 
his  true  self  as  constituted  in  Christ,  there  was  a 
righteousness  which  he  might  claim  as  his  own, 
though  he  had  not  yet  achieved  it.  This  led  him 
to  exclaim :  "  If,  then,  I  do  that  which  I  would  not, 
it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that  dwelleth  in 
me."  And  again  he  declares  that  the  true  life 
within  him  was  not  only  lived  by  faith  in  the  Son 
of  God,  but  that  the  divine  Son,  was  actually  living 
in  him. 

Edwards'  treatise  on  Justification  is  most  inter- 
esting, because  it  discloses  his  mind  as  strongly 
attracted  to  such  an  attitude,  and  yet  prevented 
from  discerning  its  full  significance  by  his  doctrine 
of  sovereign  election.  In  his  conception  of  human 
nature  every  man  is  completely  identified  with  evil, 
until  divine  grace  arbitrarily  restores  a  supernat- 
ural gift  which  was  lost  at  the  fall.  So  long  as 
he  was  held  in  bondage  to  these  doctrines,  it  was 
hardly  possible  that  he  should  rise  to  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  an  eternal  necessity  for  the  Incarna- 
tion. Had  he  attempted  to  reach  such  a  conclusion 
from  his  own  premises,  it  would  have  been  incum- 
bent on  him  to  represent  the  fall  of  man  as  if  it 
were  a  step  forward  and  upward  in  the  history 
of  human  development.  A  tendency,  indeed,  to 
this  mode  of  speaking  finds  expression  in  a  ser- 


102  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

mon  entitled  The  Wisdom  Displayed  in  Salvation. 
Here  it  is  practically  alleged  tliat  the  situation  is  a 
higher  one  in  consequence  of  the  fall  than  it  could 
otherwise  have  been.  The  relish  of  good  is  also 
greater  by  the  knowledge  man  now  has  of  evil. 
These  contraries  of  good  and  evil  heighten  the 
sense  of  one  another.  If  man  had  not  fallen  he 
would  have  had  all  liis  happiness  of  God  by  his 
own  righteousness,  while  now  he  may  claim  to 
stand  in  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  And  still 
further,  the  union  between  God  and  man  is  a 
closer  one  ;  there  is  a  more  intimate  intercourse 
and  relationship.^  Thoughts  like  these  are  not  in- 
congruous with  the  conclusion  which  some  have 
drawn,  that  God  decreed  the  introduction  of  sin 
into  the  world  as  the  means  of  a  higher  develop- 
ment. While  Edwards  does  not  draw  this  conclu- 
sion, and  might  have  rejected  it  as  unsatisfactory 
or  untrue,  yet  his  desire  to  magnify  the  Augustin- 
I  ian  doctrine  of  original  sin  leads  him  nearer  than 
/  he  is  aware  to  the  interpretation  of  the  fall  as  up- 
ward and  not  downward ;  or  to  the  language  of  a 
mediaeval  mystic,  Hugo  St.  Victor,  who  apostro- 
phized the  sin  of  Adam  asjfelix  culpa. 

There  had  been  those  in  the  ancient  church  who 
had  discerned  the  significance  which  the  manifesta- 
tion of  God  in  the  flesh  must  have,  apart  from  its 
relation  to  sin,  as  the  keystone  of  the  creation  and 
the  crown  of  humanity.  Even  in  the  Middle  Ages 
an  occasional  protest  may  be  heard  to  the  same 
1  Cf .  Wisdom  of  God,  etc.,  vol.  iv.  pp.  154,  155. 


THE  ETERNAL   SON.  103 

effect,  —  that  Christ  is  the  completion  of  the  crea- 
tion, fulfilling  an  eternal  purpose,  and  not  merely 
an  -ali^erthought,  with  a  purely  remedial  mission. 
But  Edwards  is  not  in  the  number  of  these. 
Christ,  according  to  his  assertion,  comes  into  re- 
lation with  humanity  in  consequence  of  the  fall. 
Had  there  been  no  sin,  there  would  have  been  no 
necessity  for  an  incarnation.  Because  of  this  lim- 
ited, narrow  view  of  the  relationship  of  Christ  to 
humanity,  Edwards  was  powerless  to  stem  the  tide 
of  Arminian  aggression.  Standing  as  he  did  where 
the  ways  began  to  divide,  he  could  not  present 
Christ  as  the  Son  of  God  in  whom  the  sonship  of 
men  inheres  by  an  eternal  constitution.  But  on 
this  subject  a  change  came  over  his  thought  in  his 
later  years,  too  late  to  modify  his  theology,  but  yet 
significant  still  as  expressing  the  latent  spirit  and 
aim  of  the  man. 


VI. 


EDWARDS  AS  A  PREACHER.  —  HIS  IMPRECATORY 

SERMONS. 

Among  the  sermons  of  Edwards  there  are  a  few 
to  which  attention  may  be  directed  as  supplement- 
ing the  general  statement  of  his  theology.  Ed- 
wards made  no  distinction  between  a  scientific  and 
a  practical  theology.  His  sermons  are  heavily 
freighted  with  the  residts  of  his  speculative  thought. 
Of  his  life  work  it  may  be  said  that,  instead  of  en- 


104  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

deavoring  to  create  a  scientific  theology  wliich 
might  be  recast  or  interpreted  by  sacred  rhetoric 
into  a  practical,  effective  form,  he  was  occupied 
with  the  effort  to  give  a  scientific  cast  to  what  was 
originally  a  practical  or  regulative  theology.  One 
of  the  peculiar  characteristics  which  marked  his 
preaching  grew  out  of  a  tendency  to  make  the 
prevailing  theology  consistent  with  itself  by  a 
thorough  enforcement  of  the  principle  in  which  it 
had  originated,  or  which  constituted  its  reason  or 
justification.  In  this  respect  he  did  not  go  so  far 
as  some  of  his  successors.  A  certain  mental  sanity 
kept  him  from  pushing  his  principles  to  any  ab- 
surd or  fantastic  conclusion.  None  the  less  relent- 
less was  he  in  their  application,  until  life  and  its 
multifarious  interests  were  interpreted  by  the  light 
of  an  abstract  idea. 

But  despite  the  defects  of  his  method,  or  the 
severity  which  is  the  predominant  tone  of  his 
preaching,  there  is  shown  also  at  times  a  marvel- 
lous tenderness.  He  had  the  power  of  inspired 
appeal  and  exhortation.  Refinement,  dignity,  and 
strength,  and  always  and  everywhere  a  fresh  and 
intense  interest  in  his  theme,  make  his  sermons 
not  only  readable,  but  still  forcible  and  impres- 
sive, as  if  the  preacher  were  even  yet 'standing  in 
our  midst.  The  deeper  one  goes  into  the  spirit 
of  the  hour  or  studies  its  issues,  the  more  it  be- 
comes apparent  that  he  had  a  mission  to  his  age. 
The  exposition  of  this  prophetic  burden  is  reserved 
for  the  second  period  of  his  life.     But  this  con- 


THE  INTELLECT  IN  RELIGION.  105 

sciousness  of  a  mission  is  shown  from  the  first  in  a 
supreme  confidence  which  marks  his  utterance  ;  an 
authoritative  certainty  of  manner,  as  of  one  speak- 
ing from  direct  insight  or  by  divine  authority. 
Above  the  preacher,  above  the  thinker,  there  tow- 
ered also  the  majestic  purity  of  the  man,  entirely 
sincere  and  devoted,  —  a  character  that  seems  well- 
nigh  flawless ;  so  that  in  his  own  age  he  was,  if  pos- 
sible, more  deeply  revered  as  a  Christian  man  than 
as  the  dauntless,  unwearied  champion  of  the  Puri- 
tan theology.  It  is  not  attempted  here  to  give  a 
complete  picture  of  Edwards  as  a  preacher.  A 
few  points  only  are  selected  for  illustration  which 
are  closely  related  to  his  theology,  or  serve  to  ex- 
plain the  working  of  his  mind. 

The  intellectual  element,  which  has  been  a  marked 
characteristic  of  the  religion  of  New  England  peo- 
ple, appears  as  their  most  legitimate  heritage  when 
we  read  a  sermon  of  Edwards  on  the  Importance 
of  the  Knowledge  of  Divine  Truth. ^  The  sermon 
fitly  opens  the  volume  of  his  works  which  is  de- 
voted to  his  more  elaborate  discourses.  No  an- 
cient Gnostic  could  have  urged  more  strongly  the 
importance  of  a  specidative  knowledge  of  theology. 
The  necessity  for  pure  knowledge  is  enforced  al- 
most in  the  spirit  of  Socrates  or  Plato,  or  as  in  the 
writings  of  the  ancient  fathers  who  had  been  in- 
fluenced by  Greek  philosophy,  as  if,  without  specu- 

^  The  date  of  the  sermon  is  given  as  1739.  With  it  may  be 
compared  a  short  essay  or  paper  on  The  Mysteries  of  Scripture, 
vol.  iii.  p.  537. 


106  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

lative  knowledge,  obedience  or  salvation  were  im- 
possible. A  knowledge  of  tlie  things  of  divinity  is 
absolutely  necessary.  Without  speculative  knowl- 
edge we  can  have  no  practical  or  spiritual  knowl- 
edge. What  are  called  the  means  of  grace,  such 
as  preaching  or  the  sacraments,  can  have  no  force 
or  validity  except  by  conveying  knowledge.  The 
Bible  is  essentially  a  book  of  instructions,  which 
can  be  of  no  jirofit  except  as  it  conveys  knowledge 
to  the  mind.  "  He  that  doth  not  understand  can 
receive  no  faith  nor  any  other  grace."  Even  love 
demands  knowledge  as  its  foundation,  for  an  ob- 
ject cannot  be  loved  which  is  unknown. 

Edwards  does  not  write  thus  without  a  special 
motive.  He  is  resisting  his  old  enemies  the  Ar- 
minians,  "  fashionable  divines  of  the  age,"  who 
are  decrying  a  speculative  knowledge  of  Christian 
truth  as  unimportant  compared  with  the  practice 
of  Christian  duty.  He  has  found,  as  he  thinks, 
the  secret  of  their  indifference  to  theology  in  their 
conception  of  virtue  as  consisting  in  benevolence 
towards  men,  and  not  rather  in  love  towards  God. 
To  know  God,  then,  becomes  the  highest,  the  most 
pressing,  of  all  obligations.  He  recommends  the 
pursuit  of  the  knowledge  of  God  to  his  hearers 
by  every  variety  of  argument  and  appeal.  He  is 
tempted  to  depreciate  philosophy,  as  he  thinks  of 
the  transcendent  claims  of  divinity.  Let  the  phi- 
losophers differ  among  themselves  as  they  may,  it 
makes  little  difference  to  the  Christian  which  may 
be  in  the  right.     But  he  warns  his  hearers  not  to 


IMPORTANCE   OF  TnEOLOGY.  107 

apply  this  principle  to  theology.  Divine  truth  is 
not  a  matter  for  ministers  only,  who  may  dispute 
among  themselves  as  they  can.  It  is  of  infinite 
importance  to  the  common  people  to  know  what 
kind  of  a  being  God  is,  all  that  relates  to  His  es- 
sence or  His  attributes ;  the  doctrines  also  which 
relate  to  Christ,  His  incarnation.  His  mediation 
and  satisfaction ;  the  doctrine  of  justification,  or 
the  application  of  redemption  in  effectual  calling. 

To  this  end  he  pleads  with  his  hearers  to  make 
diligent  and  laborious  study  of  the  Bible.  It  is 
not  a  cursory  reading  which  will  ever  lead  to 
thorough  knowledge.  Let  them  not  be  content 
with  what  they  hear  from  the  preacher  or  may 
gain  in  conversation,  but  search  the  Scriptures  for 
themselves,  using  the  same  diligence  with  which 
men  are  wont  to  dig  in  mines  of  gold  and  silver. 
The  incentives  to  this  pursuit  of  divinity  grow 
upon  the  preacher  as  his  mind  dwells  upon  the 
theme.  It  will  be  a  noble  way  of  improving  the 
time ;  it  will  help  people  to  a  knowledge  of  their 
duty ;  it  will  enable  them  to  defend  the  doctrines 
of  religion  when  attacked  by  their  adversaries. 
Incidentally  we  get  a  glimpse  of  the  social  life 
which  Edwards  is  anxious  to  improve.  If  the 
people  will  only  attend  to  this  great  study,  they 
will  find  something  profitable  with  which  to  em- 
ploy themselves  during  the  long  winter  evenings, — 
something  besides  going  about  from  house  to  house 
spending  the  hours  in  unprofitable  conversation, 
with  no  other  object  than  to  amuse  themselves  or 


108 


THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 


wear  away  the  time.  Some  diversion  is  doubtless 
lawful ;  but  it  is  wrong  to  spend  so  many  long- 
evenings  in  sitting  and  talldng  and  chatting  in  one 
another's  chimney-corners ;  there  is  danger  of  fool- 
ish and  sinful  conversation,  of  venting  their  jeal- 
ousies and  evil  surmises  against  their  neighbors. 
He  recommends  them  to  procure  and  diligently 
use  other  books  than  the  Bible,  which  will  stimu- 
late their  minds  as  well  as  further  the  same  great 
purpose.  He  has  noticed  in  his  pastoral  calls 
among  the  people  that  they  have  a  few  books,  in- 
deed, which  now  and  then  on  Sabbath  days  they 
read ;  but  they  have  had  them  so  long  and  read 
them  so  often  that  they  are  weary  of  them,  and  it 
is  now  become  a  dull  story,  a  mere  task  to  read 
them.  He  remarks  that  there  are  many  excellent 
books  extant  which  would  afford  them  pleasant 
and  profitable  entertainment  in  their  leisure  hours. 
He  laments  that,  through  their  unwillingness  to  be 
at  a  little  expense,  they  do  not  furnish  themselves 
with  helps  of  this  nature.  For  the  rest,  let  con- 
versation with  others  be  improved  to  the  same 
end.  But  the  preacher  is  too  wise  not  to  see  dan- 
gers and  abuses  in  the  course  which  he  is  recom- 
mending. In  concluding  he  warns  his  hearers  to 
avoid  ostentation,  and  not  study  divinity  for  the 
sake  of  applause,  or  merely  to  enable  them  to  dis- 
pute with  their  neighbors.  Let  them  look  to  God, 
realizing  their  ignorance  in  His  sight  and  the  need 
of  divine  illumination.  And  finally,  if  they  will 
only  practise   according  to  what  knowledge  they 


A  PRACTICAL   CONTRADICTION.  109 

have,  they  will  be  on  the  way  to  further  knowledge. 
This  the  Psalmist  approves :  /  understand  more 
than  the  ancients  because  I  keep  thy  precepts. 
This  also  Christ  affirms  :  If  any  man  will  do  His 
will^  he  shall  knoiu  of  the  doctrine. 

It  is  a  remarkable  feature  of  Edwards'  preach- 
ing which  calls  for  explanation  or  comment,  that 
though  he  is  a  philosophical  necessitarian,  denying 
the  freedom  of  the  will  in  its  ordinary  acceptation, 
yet  his  sermons  abound  in  appeal  and  in  pathetic 
exhortations,  as  if  the  will  had  the  power  of  choos- 
ing between  the  motives  of  self  or  God.  It  has, 
indeed,  been  often  remarked  in  regard  to  one  of 
his  notable  sermons  with  the  title,  Pressing  into 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  that  it  is  thoroughly  incon- 
sistent with  his  doctrine  of  the  certainty  or  neces- 
sity of  human  actions.  In  this  sermon  he  insists 
on  the  use  of  means  as  indispensably  necessary 
to  those  who  are  seeking  for  reconciliation  with 
God.  He  brings  to  bear  upon  the  will  all  conceiv- 
able motives  to  an  immediate  decision,  as  if  at  any 
moment  it  might  exert  its  self -determining  power. 
To  press  into  the  kingdom  of  God  is  represented  as 
involving  strength  of  desire,  firmness  of  resolution, 
greatness  of  endeavor,  engagedness  and  earnest- 
ness directly  concerned  with  this  special  business. 

That  there  is  here  an  emphatic  contradiction  re- 
quires no  proof.  What  is  more  to  the  purpose  is 
to  show,  if  possible,  why  Edwards  himself  did  not 
feel  the  contradiction,  —  why  he  should  not  have 
been  embarrassed  when  making  an  appeal  to  the 


110  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

will.  There  is  a  hint  in  liis  earliest  writings  which 
may  throw  some  light  on  this  obscure  mental  pro- 
cess. After  having  demonstrated  that  the  world 
has  no  external  reality  but  exists  only  in  the  mind 
of  God,  he  remarks  that  we  must  continue  to  speak 
in  the  old  way  about  things,  because  of  the  neces- 
sities springing  from  the  defects  of  human  lan- 
guage. We  may  infer,  then,  that  though  he  does 
not  believe  in  the  freedom  of  the  will  he  sees  no 
impropriety  in  using  '  the  customary  language. 
This  also  is  the  method  of  Scripture  and  of  the 
common  usage  of  life.  Here,  too,  language  has 
assumed  its  final  shape,  and  cannot  be  bent  to  con- 
formity with  any  speculative  principle. 

Other  reasons  may  be  assigned  which  throw 
light  upon  this  fundamental  inconsistency.  While 
Edwards  believed  that  human  actions  are  but  links 
in  the  chain  of  necessity,  that  God  determines 
the  will  or  that  the  will  is  governed  by  motives 
instead  of  possessing  the  power  to  choose  between 
motives  or  to  create  a  motive  to  itself,  yet  he  also 
held  that  the  will  might  be  called  free,  inasmuch 
as  freedom  consists  in  the  power  of  a  man  to  act 
according  to  his  inclination.  He  therefore  seems 
to  have  felt  that  his  admission  that  the  will  was 
free  in  the  sense  in  which  he  defined  freedom,  war- 
ranted him  in  using  the  vocabulary  of  those  who, 
like  the  Arminians,  conceived  of  freedom  in  a 
widely  different,  in  a  real  and  vaster  sense.  It  is 
a  singular  case  of  delusion,  of  bondage  to  the  mere 
jugglery  of  words.    The  Edwardian  notion  of  free- 


THINGS  ARE    WHAT  THEY  ARE.  Ill 

dom  stands  as  a  hollow,  grinning  ghost,  or  as  a 
mere  deus  ex  machina  ready  to  relieve  the  theo- 
loofical  situation  when  the  stress  became  unendur- 
able. 

But  it  is  one  of  the  subtle  revenges  which  the 
reality  inflicts  upon  a  thinker  who  is  seeking  to 
evade  it,  that  it  creeps  into  his  thought  and  moulds 
it  unconsciously,  even    against   his  will.     Bishop 
Butler    gave    expression    to   this    recondite    truth 
when  he  said,  "  Things  are  what  they  are,  and  the 
consequences  of  them  will  be  what  they  will  be." 
The  emphasis  which  Edwards  laid  upon  the  will 
as  the  principal  factor  in  man  as  we^  as  in  God, 
gave  prominence  to  the  will  in  matters  of  religion 
or  of  common  life ;  and  things  being  what  they  are, 
the  consequences  of  them  were  what  they  always 
must  be.     Edwards  was  unconsciously  making  a 
powerful  appeal  to  the  will,  and  the  human  will 
responded  in  prolonged  and  mighty  efforts  to  se- 
cure the  great  ends  of  life  as  Edwards  w^as  present- 
ing them.     The  conscious  self-direction  of  the  will 
became  the  characteristic  of  New  England  Puri- 
tanism, constituting  streng*th  and  nobility  of  char- 
acter, standing  out  also  in  sharp  contrast  to  the 
milder  methods  which  affirm  the  principle  of  an 
unconscious  growth  as  the  law  of  the  religious  life. 
Some  such  qualification  of  the  working  of  Edwards' 
theology  is  demanded  if  we   care  to  understand 
and  do  justice  to  New  England  history.     Not  that 
Edwards  escaped  the  consequences  of  his  denial  of 
a  fundamental  truth.     It  will  be  shown,  directly. 


112  THE    PARISH  MINISTER. 

how  his  error  followed  him.  But  before  we  turn 
to  this  unfortunate  and  even  calamitous  result  of 
an  evil  theory,  we  may  present  him  as  making  his 
appeal  in  pathetic  and  affectionate  language,  urg- 
ing men  to  seek  an  interest  in  Christ  and  to 
hasten  to  escape  from  impending  danger. 

The  effect  of  Edwards'  preaching,  then,  upon 
the  minds  of  many  who  listened  to  him,  was  re- 
duced to  an  urgent,  absorbing  appeal  to  the  will. 
Some,  it  is  true,  may  have  been  paralyzed  by  the 
fearful  motives  which  he  invoked,  so  frightened  by 
the  horrors  of  the  dangers  described,  as  to  weaken 
the  capacity  for  action.  Some  of  an  intellectual 
cast  of  mind  may  have  been  entangled  by  snags 
from  which  they  could  not  get  free,  eddying  about 
in  an  uncertain,  aimless  way.  But  there  were 
those  also  who,  in  this  process  of  spiritual  evolu- 
tion, felt  goaded  to  greater  and  sublimer  efforts  in 
proportion  as  the  horror  of  the  situation  was  im- 
pressed upon  their  imagination.  These,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  preacher's  exliortation,  struggled 
with  desperate  determination  until  they  took  the 
kingdom  of  God  by  violence.  Those  who  succeeded 
were  from  one  point  of  view  an  illustration  of  the 
selection  of  the  fittest.  Instead  of  being  demoral- 
ized, they  were  incited  to  more  vigorous  effort,  as 
they  considered  the  extreme  necessity  of  the  case, 
the  imminent  danger  of  eternal  destruction,  the 
shortness  of  the  time,  the  uncertainty  of  the  oppor- 
tunity, the  difficulties  to  be  encountered,  the  possi- 
bility of  overcoming,  the  exceeding  excellence  of 


THE  PREACHER'S  EXHORTATION.  113 

the  reward.  The  preacher  advises  those  who  have 
undertaken  to  make  the  conquest  of  God  s 'kingdom 
to  keep  their  eye  fixed  upon  the  plain  issue  of  the 
struggle,  and  not  to  fight  shadows  by  the  way.  It 
will  be  a  mistake  and  weaken  them  in  the  conflict 
if  they  are  questioning  about  God's  secret  decrees, 
searching  for  signs  by  which  they  may  read  God's 
mind  before  its  accomjilishment.  Let  them  cease 
to  be  distressed  with  fears  that  they  are  not  elected, 
or  have  committed  the  unpardonable  sin,  or  that 
for  them  the  day  of  grace  is  over.  When  men 
complain  that  strong  desires  and  thorough  earnest- 
ness are  not  theirs  to  command,  it  is  answered  that 
God  ordinarily  works  by  means ;  that  it  is  in  their 
power  to  attend  on  the  ordinances  of  religion  and 
to  strive  against  the  corruption  of  their  hearts, 
their  dulness,  and  the  other  difficulties  in  their  way. 
Earnestness  of  mind  will  follow  earnestness  of 
endeavor ;  and  if  there  be  painful  striving,  it  will 
not  be  long  before  earnestness  and  desire  will  take 
possession  of  the  soid. 

All  this  may  sound  commonplace  and  familiar. 
And  yet  we  are  walking  here  in  a  field  which  is 
strown  with  the  perplexities  of  a  bygone  age. 
There  is  one  objection  in  particular,  which  the 
preacher  strives  to  meet,  which  has  a  remote  air,  as 
if  it  never  could  have  been  real  or  genuine.  Some, 
he  remarks,  may  object  that  if  they  are  earnest  and 
take  a  great  deal  of  pains  they  shall  be  in  danger 
of  trusting  to  what  they  do,  and  thus  come  to  de- 
pend on  a  righteousness  of  their  own.     In  this  ob- 


114  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

jection  Oalvinism  is  seen  as  the  opposite  extreme 
to  Komanism,  which  makes  religion  consist  so 
largely  in  outward  works.  If  the  Romanist  feared 
that  he  should  not  do  enough  to  secure  salvation, 
the  Calvinist  is  fearful  lest  he  shall  do  too  much, 
and  thus  come  to  depend  upon  his  doing.  Ed- 
wards disposes  of  the  objection  with  no  great  dif- 
ficulty, denying  that  there  is  any  danger  corre- 
sponding to  such  a  fear.  Instead  of  its  being  true 
that  the  more  they  do  the  more  they  will  de- 
pend on  their  doing,  the  reverse  is  true,  —  the  less 
will  they  be  likely  to  rest  in  their  doing,  and  the 
sooner  will  they  see  the  vanity  of  all  their  works. 
But  the  objection  really  went  deeper  than  Edwards 
perceived.  It  grew  out  of  the  inmost  mood  of  the 
Calvinistic  theology.  Not  only  so,  but  not  long 
after  Edwards'  time  there  arose  the  sect  of  the 
Sandemanians,  who  asserted  as  their  fundamental 
principle  the  deadliness  of  all  doings,  the  necessity 
for  inactivity  in  order  to  let  God  do  His  work  in 
the  soul.  Sandeman,  the  best  representative  of 
the  sect,  was  a  highly  educated  man,  a  Scotchman, 
earnest  and  intense  as  Edwards  himseK.  He  had 
drawn  an  inference  which  gave  New  England  Cal- 
vinists  an  uneasy  consciousness  in  the  generation 
that  followed  Edwards.  It  was  fortunate  for  Ed- 
wards that  he  lived  before  Sandeman  appeared.^ 

But  even  in   Edwards'   most  affecting  appeals 
there  still  lurks  the  sense  of  the  divine  sovereignty, 

^  Cf.  Sandeman,  Theron  and  Aspasia,  in  which   his   thesis  is 
worked  out  with  skill  and  with  considerable  grace  of  style. 


UNCERTAINTY  OF  THE  RESULT,  115 

which  orders  even  salvation  in  accordance  with 
arbitrary  ^vill.  He  urges  his  hearers  to  sacrifice 
everything  in  this  work  of  pressing  into  the  king- 
dom of  God,  to  forget  the  things  behind,  to  labor 
for  a  heart  to  go  on  and  to  hold  out  to  the  end. 
But  he  also  cautions  them :  "  Remember  that  if 
ever  God  bestows  His  mercy  on  you.  He  will  use 
His  sovereign  pleasure  about  the  time  when.  He 
will  bestow  it  on  some  in  a  little  time,  and  on 
others  not  till  they  have  sought  it  long.  If  other 
persons  are  soon  enlightened  and  comforted,  while 
you  long  remain  in  darkness,  there  is  no  other  way 
but  for  you  to  wait ;  God  will  act  arbitrarily  in  this 
matter,  and  you  cannot  help  it.  You  must  even  be 
content  to  wait,  in  a  way  of  laborious  and  earnest 
striving,  till  His  time  comes."  But  even  so  there  is 
no  certainty  of  the  result.  "  If  you  stop  striving 
and  sit  still,  you  surely  die ;  if  you  go  forward 
you  may  live."  God  has  not  bound  Himself  to  any- 
thing that  a  person  does  while  destitute  of  faith 
and  out  of  Christ,  no  matter  how  hard  or  how  long 
he  may  strive  ;  but  there  is  a  great  2^'^obability 
that  those  who  hearken  to  this  counsel,  who  press 
onward  and  persevere,  will  at  length  by  violence 
take  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

The  effects  of  Edwards'  denial  of  the  freedom 
of  the  will  may  be  traced  in  a  group  of  sermons  to 
which  it  is  now  necessary  to  turn,  painful  though 
the  necessity  be.  They  may  be  caUed  his  impre- 
catory sermons.  Out  of  the  forty  sermons  included 
in  the  fourth  volume  of  his  works,  they  form  a 


116  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

large  proportion,  being  eiglit  in  number.  Tliey 
are  written  out  in  full,  —  an  indication  that  tliey 
were  the  deliberate  utterance  of  the  preacher.  It 
has  been  said,  by  way  of  extenuation  for  their 
severity,  not  to  say  cruelty,  that  they  were  de- 
livered under  peculiar  circumstances.  Attention 
has  also  been  called  to  the  hardness  and  cruelty  of 
the  age,  which,  if  not  justifying  their  vehemence, 
created  a  different  standard  of  speech,  in  accord- 
ance with  which  they  should  be  judged  rather  than 
by  the  gentler,  more  sentimental  standard  of  a 
later  time.  It  is  quite  possible,  too,  that  they 
were  demanded  by  the  prevailing  taste,  that  they 
were  relished  and  admired  by  those  who  listened 
to  them.  It  was  a  remark  of  the  last  century,  that 
in  matters  of  religion  men  take  pleasure  in  being 
terrified,  and  admire  the  preacher  who  can  rouse 
the  most  dark  and  awful  feelings.  But  in  this 
respect,  even  in  the  last  century,  there  must  have 
been  a  limit  to  human  endurance. 

When  all  allowances  have  been  made  that  should 
be  made,  these  sermons  ^i;ill  possess  an  unique  char- 
acter in  homiletic  literature.  They  are  marked  by 
a  vehemence  not  only  unrestrained,  but  which 
seemed  to  be  justified  or  demanded  by  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  preacher's  theology.  Why 
should  Edwards,  of  all  other  men,  have  taught  in , 
such  an  extreme  form  the  doctrine  of  endless  pun- 
ishment, —  a  form  unsurpassed,  if  not  unequalled, 
in  the  whole  range  of  Christian  literature  ?  The 
explanation  must  be  sought,  not  in  his  character, 


TOTAL   DEPRAVITY.  117 

* 

not  altogether  in  the  conditions  of  the  time,  but  in 
his  theoretical  denial  of  the  freedom  of  the  will. 
It  has  not  been  by  accident  that  he  has  been  chiefly 
known  and  is  still  chiefly  remembered  by  his  elabo- 
rate work  on  the  Will.  Even  if  we  could  not  see 
clearly  the  connection,  we  might  suspect  there  was 
some  relation  between  what  was  obnoxious  in  his 
preaching  and  what  was  irrational  in  his  theology. 
But  the  connection  is  not  remote  or  obscure. 

It  was  the  residt  of  Edwards'  attitude  on  the 
subject  of  the  wiU  that  he  was  forced  to  conceive 
the  will  as  constituting  the  most  essential  or  dis- 
tinctive quality  of  hmnanity ;  and  as  the  will  of 
every  man  who  is  born  into  the  world  is  fixed  and 
determined  toward  evil,  there  was  nothing  to  hinder 
him,  there  was  indeed  every  motive  to  force  him, 
into  the  identification  of  every  individual  man  with 
unqualified  and  infinite  wickedness.  Men  have  not 
only  a  tendency  to  sin,  but  their  very  nature  is  iden- 
tical with  sin.  Every  man  is  born  with  a  predom- 
inant choice  for  evil,  which  controls  all  lesser  vo- 
litions and  vitiates  every  r-  "^  of  his  life.  There  is 
no  border  land  which  the  will  may  cross  from  a 
state  of  indifference  or  indecision  to  one  of  con- 
scious purpose ;  no  twilight  of  the  soul  in  which 
its  forces  gather  undiscerned  for  some  great  reso- 
lution. There  is  no  divine  root  of  goodness  in 
human  nature  which  may  be  depended  on  to  resist 
the  evil  tendency.  Those  who  are  determined  to- 
ward evil  are  wholly  evil,  corrupt  in  every  part  of 
their  being,  totally  corrupt  in  all  their  faculties 


118  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

and  dispositions  and  affections  ;  all  their  senses 
being  mere  inlets  and  outlets  of  sin,  channels  of 
corruption. 

If  sin,  then,  were  already  cursed  by  God,  why 
should  not  the  preacher  be  free  to  curse  what 
God  had  cursed?  Why  should  he  be  more  re- 
strained when  speaking  of  sinful  men  than  when 
speaking  of  sin  in  the  abstract  ?  Even  the  little 
child,  notwithstanding  its  innocence  and  winning 
ways,  was  but  the  incarna^tion  of  evil,  unmitigated 
and  undiluted.  How  much  worse  were  mature 
men,  with  whom  the  predominant  choice  of  evil 
had  been  exemplified  in  almost  countless  acts  of 
sin !  This  was  Edwards'  conviction,  and  he  be- 
lieved it  his  duty  to  proclaim  it  in  a  fearless  and 
unmistakable  way.  It  was  a  mistaken  kindness  to 
speak  softly  or  indifferently.  And  besides,  in  view 
of  Arminian  laxity,  there  were  special  reasons  for 
giving  prominence  to  his  convictions.  The  incip- 
ient tendency  toward  a  denial  of  the  doctrine  of 
endless  punishment  was  an  urgent  motive  for  its 
more  emphatic  proclamation.  Devotion  to  God, 
if  not  to  man,  required  that  the  divine  justice  in 
the  punishment  of  the  sinner  should  be  maintained 
at  whatever  cost  to  the  natural  affections.  If  the 
sinner  were  wholly  evil,  so  that  the  deepest  root  of 
his  being  was  grafted  in  sin,  then  the  sinner  de- 
served to  be  denounced  in  such  language  as  men 
reserve  for  that  which  excites  their  strongest  and 
most  righteous  indignation.  In  the  performance 
of  his  task  Edwards  was  facilitated  by  the  autoc- 


USEFULNESS   OF  THE    WICKED.  119 

racy  freely  accorded  to  the  Puritan  clergy  in  an 
earlier  stage  of  New  England  history,  which,  al- 
though it  had  begun  to  decline,  had  not  by  any 
means  disappeared. 

One  of  the  strongest  of  these  imprecatory  ser- 
mons, whose  argument  is  condensed  in  its  title, 
Wicked  Men  Usefid  in  their  Destruction  Only,  il- 
lustrates a  peculiar  phase  of  Edwards'  thought.  It 
has  often  been  noticed  that  a  certain  pantheistic 
tendency  attaches  to  the  extreme  forms  of  the  doc- 
trine of  divine  sovereignty.  There  are  various 
types  and  phases  of  pantheism,  as  there  are  of 
monotheism.  To  that  form  of  the  belief  which 
attempts  the  deification  of  nature,  or  of  all  that  is, 
Edwards  had  no  direct  leaning.  Nor  to  the  Bud- 
dhistic temper,  which  treats  the  world  of  outward 
things  as  an  illusion  destined  to  cease,  had  he  any 
inclination.  In  the  shape,  also,  which  pantheism 
sometimes  assumes,  that  final  annihilation  waits 
upon  all  which  does  not  realize  absorption  into 
God,  there  was  something  which  to  Edwards  was 
repulsive.  To  his  mind,  the  outward  world  was 
real  only  as  being  the  expression  of  the  stable  wiU 
of  God.  Annihilation  is  impossible  because  he 
entertains  a  profound  reverence  for  being  or  exist- 
ence, so  that  he  who  is  once  possessed  of  mil,  and 
whose  will  is  determined  by  God,  is  born  to  exist 
forever.  But  this  evil  wiU,  whether  in  men  or 
angels,  though  it  seems  to  act  in  defiance  of  God, 
is  no  dualistic  factor  in  the  universe :  it  still 
serves  the  one  divine  will  quite  as  really  as  if  de- 


120  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

voted  to  the  righteous  service  of  God.  All  men 
alike,  whether  sinners  or  saints,  are  useful  in  the 
divine  economy.  "  There  can  be  but  two  ways  in 
which  man  can  be  useful,  either  in  acting  or  in 
being  acted  iqjon  and  disposed  of."  ^  The  latter 
constitutes  the  usefulness  of  the  wicked.  They 
.are  the  material  upon  which  the  divine  justice 
operates.  Without  their  existence,  God's  justice 
would  have  remained  inactive,  as  a  potency  without 
opportunity  for  exercise  or  manifestation.  God 
may  be  said  to  need  the  wicked  in  order  to  the 
activity  of  His  justice,  as  much  as  the  righteous 
in  order  to  the  display  of  His  love.  When  men 
objected  that  they  were  useful  to  their  fellows  in 
the  various  walks  of  life,  that  they  were  not  wholly 
bad,  since  they  aimed  to  live  for  one  another,  for 
their  friends,  their  neighbors,  or  the  public  weal, 
—  nay,  that  they  might  even  be  of  service  to  the 
church  by  the  promotion  of  civil  order,  —  to  such 
pleas  Edwards  replied,  that  so  long  as  men  did 
not  perform  these  duties  designedly,  with  a  con- 
scious direction  of  the  will  toward  God,  they  were 
not  useful  as  men  or  as  rational  creatures,  but  use- 
ful only  as  irrational  things  are  useful,  as  the  tim- 
ber and  stone  of  which  a  house  is  built.  However 
great  their  service,  it  was  of  no  more  value  in 
God's  eyes  than  the  actions  of  the  brute  creation. 
Their  only  real  usefulness  lay  in  being  reserved 
as  vessels  of  dishonor,  through  which  God  glori- 
fied His  majesty. 

1  Vol.  iv.  p.  301. 


A    TERRIFIC  CLIMAX.  121 

In  order  to  overcome  the  indifferent  mood  in 
which  people  might  listen  to  the  preaching  of  end- 
less punishment,  Edwards  expatiates  at  length 
upon  its  nature  ;  he  shows  how  intolerable  it  will 
be,  how  it  is  without  remedy  or  relaxation  or  mit- 
igation, how  it  is  as  unavoidable  as  it  will  be  in- 
tolerable. Every  evasion  or  loophole  of  escape, 
every  fond  imagination  of  a  possible  release,  is 
shown  to  be  futile  and  vain.  No  individual,  think- 
ing himself  so  obscure  as  to  be  beneath  notice, 
may  hope  to  elude  attention,  or  to  crawl  into 
heaven  unobserved  :  neither  annihilation  nor  resto- 
ration after  ages  of  suffering  are  equivalent  substi- 
tutes for  the  punishment  of  an  infinite  sin,  which 
calls  for  infinite  penalty.  The  fertility  of  Edwards' 
mind  is  displayed  in  the  supply  of  images  with 
which  he  presses  home  upon  his  hearers  his  awful 
theme.  His  imagination  attempts  to  measure  the 
significance  of  the  word  eternal.  The  thought 
of  these  terrific  sermons  reaches  its  climax  when 
the  saints  in  glory  are  represented  as  callous  to  the 
sufferings  of  the  lost.  For  there  is  one  last  hope, 
one  last  refuge  to  which  sinful  humanity  is  driven 
to  cling,  when  confronting  the  desperate  situation. 
If  God  be,  as  He  is  said  to  be,  without  pity,  as  He 
executes  eternal  judgment  on  His  foes  ;  if  it  be  that 
His  heart  is  full  of  burning  anger  against  those  who 
have  defied  Him,  so  that  the  possibility  of  appeal- 
ing to  His  love  is  forever  closed,  may  it  not  be  that 
those  who  have  the  good  fortune  to  be  saved,  the 
parents,  the  friends,  the  lovers  of  their  kind,  will 


122  THE  PARI 811  MINISTER. 

still  retain  something  of  their  common  humanity, 
—  the  natural  compassion  or  sympathy  which  will 
reduce  their  own  pleasure  in  heaven  when  they  wit- 
ness the  agony  of  souls  in  hell  ?  To  this  pathetic 
hope,  which  in  the  lowest  extremity  still  trusts  in 
humanity  when  there  is  no  basis  for  trust  in  God, 
Edwards  replies  by  affirming  in  substance  that  the 
hmnanity  of  the  saints  is  absorbed  or  annihilated 
in  God.  They,  too,  will  look  upon  the  scene  with- 
out flinching  ;  their  serenity  will  not  only  be  un- 
disturbed, but  their  happiness  will  be  the  deeper 
because  of  the  contrast  afforded  by  this  ever-pres- 
ent spectacle  of  woe.  "  There  will  be  no  remain- 
ing difficulties  about  the  justice  of  God,  about  the 
absolute  decrees  of  God,  or  an}i:hing  pertaining 
to  the  dispensations  of  God  towards  men.  Divine 
justice  in  the  destruction  of  the  wicked  will  then 
appear  as  light  without  darkness,  and  will  shine 
as  the  sun  without  the  clouds."  Those  who  are 
saved  will  then  be  thinking,  not  of  man,  but  of 
God,  how  God  is  glorifying  His  justice  on  the  ves- 
sels of  dishonor,  or  glorifying  His  grace  on  the 
vessels  of  mercy.  Even  fathers  and  mothers  will 
then  rejoice  and  praise  God  as  they  witness  eternal 
justice  poured  out  upon  their  own  offspring.  If 
this  seems  strange  or  impossible,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  circumstances  of  our  nature  will 
then  be  changed.  What  is  virtue  here  will  be  no 
virtue  there.  Now  virtue  shows  itself  by  natural 
affection,  but  natural  affection  is  no  virtue  of  the 
saints  in  glory.    However  the  saints  in  heaven  may 


NATURAL  AFFECTION   IN  HEAVEN.  123 

have  loved  the  damned  while  here,  especially  those 
who  were  near  and  dear  to  them  in  this  world,  they 
will  have  no  love  to  them  hereafter.  Virtue  will 
then  be  exercised  in  some  other  and  higher  manner.^ 
It  is  not  that  God  and  the  saints  will  be  unable 
to  realize  the  sufferins^s  of  the  lost.  Althouo-h  the 
saints  look  upon  the  smoke  of  their  torments  and 
the  raging  of  the  fires  of  their  burning  afar  off, 
they  will  yet  measure  the  misery  and  the  agony 
more  truly  than  any  of  us  do  here.  "  God  also  is 
everywhere  present  with  His  all-seeing  eye.  He 
is  in  heaven  and  in  hell,  and  in  and  through  every 
part  of  His  creation.  He  is  where  every  devil  is, 
and  where  every  damned  soul  is ;  He  is  present  by 
His  power  and  by  His  essence.  He  not  only 
knows  as  well  as  those  in  heaven  who  see  at  a  dis- 
tance, but  he  knows  as  perfectly  as  those  who  feel 
the  misery.  He  seeth  into  the  inmost  recesses  of 
the  hearts  of  those  miserable  spirits,  for  He  up- 
holds them  in  being."  ^  While  the  joy  which  the 
saints  feel,  as  they  contemplate  the  sufferings  of 
the  lost,  springs  partly  from  their  devotion  to  God's 
glory  and  their  desire  to  see  His  justice  vindicated, 
yet  it  also  springs  from  the  deeper  realization  of 
their  own  happiness.  They  are  lost  in  adoring 
wonder  at  the  mystery  of  the  love  which  elected 
and  redeemed  them.  The  sight  of  hell  torments 
will  exalt  the  happiness  of  the  saints  forever. 
They  will  prize  their  own  blessedness  and  God's 
love  the  more  when  they  see  the  doleful  condition 
1  Vol.  iv.  pp.  291,  294.  2  Vol.  iv.  p.  291. 


124  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

of  the  damned,  and  how  dreadful  it  is  to  suffer  the 
anger  of  God.  It  will  give  the  saints  a  deeper 
sense  of  the  distinguishing  love  of  God,  who  has 
made  so  great  a  difference  between  themselves  and 
others,  who  are  now  lost,  but  who  were  no  worse 
than  themselves  and  have  deserved  no  worse  of 
God.  When  they  shall  behold  all  this,  how  will 
heaven  ring  with  their  praises  ;  with  what  love  and 
ecstasy  will  they  sing  the  song  of  the  redeemed !  ^ 

The  preacher  does  not  hesitate  to  avow  his 
belief  that  the  great  majority  of  mankind  have 
been  lost.  To  this  conclusion  he  was  driven  by 
observation  and  experience,  by  theoretic  considera- 
tions, by  the  enforcement  of  a  high  ideal.  Again 
and  ag^in  he  reiterates  the  statement  that  out  of 
the  great  mass  of  mankind  only  a  few  will  be 
saved.  "  The  bigger  part  of  men  who  have  died 
heretofore  have  gone  to  hell."  The  whole  heathen 
world  is  hopelessly  doomed.  In  the  Christian 
world  the  prospect  is  little  better  for  large  masses 
of  men  under  the  dominion  of  idolatry  and  super- 
stition. The  majority  of  each  passing  generation 
is  lost.  In  every  congregation  there  are  many 
whose  damnation  is  sure.^ 

Edwards  defended  his  manner  of  preaching,  on 
the  ground  that,  if  these  things  were  true,  it  was 
only  kindness  to  a  congregation  to  present  them, 

1  Cf .  vol.  iv.  p.  307 ;  also  ch.  iii.  of  Miscell.  Observations, 
vol.  iv.  p.  612. 

2  Cf.  vol.  i.  pp.  78,  537 ;  vol.  ii.  p.  499 ;  vol.  iii.  pp.  448,  449; 
vol.  iv.  pp.  316,  386,  583. 


LAW  AND   GOSPEL.  125 

and  that,  too,  in  what  he  calls  the  "  liveliest "  man- 
ner. When  ministers  preach  of  hell  in  a  cold 
manner,  though  they  may  say  in  words  that  it 
is  infinitely  terrible,  they  contradict  themselves. 
The  main  work  of  ministers  is  to  preach  the  gospel. 
A  minister  would  miss  it  very  much  if  he  should 
insist  too  much  on  the  terrors  of  the  law  and  neg- 
lect the  gosj^el ;  but  yet  the  law  is  very  much  to  be 
insisted  on,  and  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  is  like 
to  be  in  vain  mthout  it.^  But  no  one  can  read 
these  imprecatory  sermons  without  feeling  that  the 
preacher  goes  beyond  the  requirements  of  duty  or 
of  rhetoric.  There  enters  into  them  a  personal 
tone,  as  if  he  spoke  in  the  divine  name  to  curse  the 
enemies  of  God.  He  is  almost  over-zealous  for  the 
honor  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  He  reflects  the  spirit 
of  the  old  dispensation,  —  Shall  not  I  hate  them^ 
O  Lord^  that  hate  Thee^  and  rise  up  against  them 
that  rise  up  against  Thee  ?  Yea^  I  hate  them  right 
sore,  as  if  they  icere  mine  enemies.  "You  have 
often  seen  a  spider  or  some  other  noisome  insect 
when  thrown  into  the  midst  of  a  fierce  fire,  and 
have  seen  how  immediately  it  3aelds  to  the  force  of 
the  flames :  there  is  no  long  struggle,  no  fighting 
against  the  fire,  no  strength  exerted  to  oppose  the 
heat,  or  to  fly  from  it,  but  it  immediately  stretches 
forth  itself  and  yields ;  and  the  fire  takes  posses- 
sion of  it,  and  at  once  it  becomes  full  of  fire  and  is 
burned  into  a  bright  coal.  Here  is  a  little  image 
of  what  you  will  be  the  subjects  of  in  hell."  ^   And 

1  Cf.  Marks  of  the  Work  of  the  Spirit,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p  538. 

2  Vol.  iv.  p.  264. 


126  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

again  he  seems  to  lose  patience,  to  grow  provoked, 
because  men  still  resist  liis  intense  earnestness  of 
appeal.  He  closes  a  sermon  with  these  words : 
"  You  who  now  hear  of  hell  and  the  WTath  of  the 
great  God,  and  sit  here  in  these  seats  so  easy  and 
quiet  and  go  away  so  careless,  —  by  and  by  you  will 
shake  and  tremble,  and  cry  out  and  shriek,  and 
gnash  your  teeth,  and  will  be  thoroughly  convinced 
of  the  vast  weight  and  importance  of  these  great 
things  which  you  now  despise.  You  wiU  not  then 
need  to  hear  sermons  in  order  to  make  you  sen- 
sible." 1 

But  if  it  be  painful  to  read  these  sermons  of 
Edwards,  what  must  it  have  bcL  to  have  heard 
them !  The  traditions  stiU  linger  in  New  England 
of  the  effect  they  produced.  One  man  has  recorded 
that,  as  he  listened  to  him  when  discoursing  of  the 
day  of  judgment,  he  fully  anticipated  that  the 
dreadful  day  woidd  begin  when  the  sermon  should 
come  to  an  end  !  He  was  the  greatest  preacher  of 
his  age.  It  is  only  at  rare  intervals  that  a  man 
endowed  with  such  a  power  appears.  His  effec- 
tiveness did  not  lie  in  voice  and  gesture.  He  was 
accustomed  to  lean,  it  is  said,  upon  one  arm,  fas- 
tening his  eyes  upon  some  distant  point  in  the 
meeting-house.  But  beneath  the  qniet  manner 
were  the  filces  #f  a  volcano.  His  gravity  of  char- 
acter, his  profundity  of  spiritual  insight,  his  in- 
tense realism  as  if  the  ideal  were  the  only  real,  his 
burning  devotion,  his  vivid  imagin?^^'on,  his  master- 
1  Vol.  iv.  p.  265. 


SERMON  AT  ENFIELD.  127 

f ul  will,  —  these  entered  into  his  sermons.  He  was 
almost  too  great  a  man  to  let  loose  upon  other  men 
in  their  ordinary  condition.  He  was  like  some 
organ  of  vast  capacity  whose  strongest  stops  or 
combinations  should  never  have  been  drawn.  The 
account  has  been  left  to  us  of  the  impression  he 
produced  in  the  little  village  of  Enfield,  in  Con- 
necticut, where  he  went  to  preach  one  Sunday 
morning  in  the  month  of  Jidy,  1741.  The  congre- 
gation had  assembled  in  its  usual  mood,  with  no 
special  interest  or  expectation.  The  effect  of  the 
sermon  was  as  if  some  supernatural  apparition  had 
frightened  the  people  beyond  control.  They  were 
convidsed  in  tears  of  agony  and  distress.  Amid 
their  tears  and  outcries  the  preacher  pauses,  bid- 
ding them  to  be  quiet  in  order  that  he  may  be 
heard.^  This  was  the  sermon  which,  if  New  Eng- 
land has  forgiven,  it  has  never  been  able  to  forget. 
Its  title  was,  —  Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry 
God.  The  text  was  a  weird  passage  from  the 
book  of  Deuteronomy,  —  Their  foot  shall  slide  in 
due  time.  The  wicked  are  here  represented  as, 
equally  with  the  righteous,  a  manifestation  of  the 
one  living,  eternal  will.     They  illustrate  an  attri- 

^  Cf.  Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut^  vol.  ii.  p.  145.  Accord- 
ing' to  another  account,  Edwards  preached  th)«?  same  sermon  on  an 
occasion  when  he  was  called  to  take  the  place  of  Whitefield,  wlio 
had  failed  to  appear  when  a  multitude  were  gathered  to  hear 
him.  Although  unknown  to  most  of  his  audience  in  person,  and 
with  the  disappointment  of  the  assembly  to  overcome,  he  pro- 
duced an  effect  h  Whitefield  could  not  have  surpassed.  Cf . 
Rev.  J.  W.  Alexander,  Centen.  Discourse  of  New  Jersey  College. 


128  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

bute  of  the  divine  nature.  The  justice  of  God  is 
visible  in  their  continuance  in  life :  it  will  only  be 
more  visible  hereafter.  God  now  holds  them  in  this 
life  as  long  as  it  suits  His  pur]3ose ;  He  holds  them 
on  the  slippery  declining*  ground,  on  the  edge  of  a 
pit  where  they  could  not  stand  alone  without  His 
helj).  They  are  ah^eady  under  a  sentence  of  con- 
demnation. When  God  lets  go  they  will  drop.  God 
does  not  keep  them  from  sliding  to  their  fate  be- 
cause he  has  any  consideration  for  them.  He  is 
even  more  angry  with  many  of  those  now  living, 
It  *'  yea,  doubtless  with  many  that  are  now  in  this  con- 
/  \  gregation,"  than  He  is  with  many  of  those  who  are 
\  1  in  hell.  For  these  the  wrath  of  God  is  burning,  the 
pit  is  prepared,  the  fire  is  ready,  the  furnace  is  hot, 
the  flames  do  rage  and  glow.  The  devils  are  wait- 
ing and  watching  for  them,  like  lions  restrained  that 
are  greedy  for  their  prey.  "The  unconverted  are 
now  walking  over  the  pit  of  hell  on  a  rotten  cover- 
ing, and  there  are  innumerable  places  in  this  cov- 
ering so  weak  that  they  will  not  bear  their  weight, 
^  and  these  places  are  not  seen."  These  do  not  real- 
ize what  will  be  their  fate.  Though  they  know 
that  the  majority  of  men  are  lost,  they  flatter 
themselves  with  a  prospect  of  peace  and  safety. 
They  do  not  realize  that  the  wrath  of  God  against 
them  is  like  great  waters  dammed  up  for  the  pres- 
ent, but  rising  higher  and  higher ;  that  "  God  holds 
them  over  the  pit  of  hell  much  as  one  holds  a  spi- 
der or  some  loathsome  insect  over  the  fire  ;  that 
they  are  ten  thousand  times  more  abominable  in 


PERSONAL  NARRATIVE.  129 

His  eyes  than  a  venomous  serpent  is  in  ours."  And 
there  is  no  reason  to  be  given  why  those  sitting 
in  the  presence  of  the  preacher  have  not  dropped 
into  hell  since  they  rose  in  the  morning,  or  since 
they  have  been  sitting  there  in  God's  house,  but 
God's  mere  arbitrary  will,  —  the  uncovenanted,  un- 
obliged  forbearance  of  an  incensed  God.  In  some 
of  his  sermons,  Edwards  warned  his  hearers  not  to 
abuse  his  preaching  to  their  discouragement.  But 
in  this  discourse  there  is  no  qualification ;  it  is  one 
constant  strain  of  imprecation  against  sinful  hu- 
manity from  beginning  to  close.  And  the  sermon 
ends  with  the  words  :  — 

"  If  we  knew  that  there  was  one  person  and  but  one, 
in  the  whole  congregation,  that  was  to  be  the  subject  of 
this  misery,  what  an  awful  thing  it  would  be  to  think 
of !  If  we  knew  who  it  was,  what  an  awful  sight  would 
it  be  to  see  such  a  person  !  How  might  all  the  rest  of 
the  congregation  lift  up  a  lamentable  and  bitter  cry  over 
him  !  But,  alas !  instead  of  one,  how  many  it  is  likely 
will  remember  this  discourse  in  hell !  And  it  would  be 
a  wonder  if  some  that  are  now  present  should  not  be  in 
hell  in  a  very  short  time,  before  this  year  is  out.  And 
it  would  be  no  wonder  if  some  persons  that  now  sit  here 
in  some  seats  of  this  meeting-house,  in  health  and  quiet 
and  secure,  should  he  there  before  to^norroiu  morning.''^ 

The  Personal  Narrative  of  Edwards,  which  cov- 
ers the  earlier  years  of  his  ministry,  discloses  the 
preacher  as  endeavoring,  by  meditation  and  an 
ever-deepening  experience,  to  make  real  to  himself 


130  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

the  doctrines  he  was  preaching  to  others.  He 
records  that  the  gospel  seemed  to  him  like  the 
richest  treasure.  Even  seeing  the  name  of  Christ 
causes  his  heart  to  burn  within  him.  He  often 
recalls  the  affecting  and  delightful  text,  A  man 
shall  he  as  an  hicUng-jjlace  from  the  wind  and  a 
covert  from  the  tertipest.  He  likes  to  think  of 
himself  as  a  child  taking  hold  of  Christ,  to  be  led 
by  Him  through  the  wilderness.  Once,  as  he  rode 
out  into  the  woods  in  the  year  1737,  and  alighted 
in  a  retired  place,  he  had  a  view  of  Christ,  as  a 
mediator,  of  His  sweet  grace  and  love  and  conde- 
scension, a  view  wherein  the  person  of  Christ  ap- 
peared of  such  transcendent  excellence,  as  great 
even  above  the  heavens,  that  he  was  overcome,  and 
remained  for  an  hour  in  a  flood  of  tears  and  weep- 
ing aloud.  The  holiness  of  God  appeared  to  him 
as  the  most  lovely  of  His  attributes.  He  had 
learned  also  to  delight  in  His  sovereignty,  in  His 
showing  mercy  to  whom  He  would  show  mercy. 
It  was  a  pleasure  to  ask  of  Him  this  sovereign 
mercy.  But  these  religious  raptures  were  also  ac- 
companied by  affecting  views  of  his  own  sinful- 
ness and  vileness.  The  sense  of  his  wickedness 
and  the  badness  of  his  heart  was  stronger  after  his 
conversion  than  before.  His  wickedness  seemed 
to  surpass  that  of  all  others.  No  language  was 
too  strong  for  the  purposes  of  seK-condemnation. 
His  heart  seemed  to  him  like  an  abyss  infinitely 
deeper  than  hell.  He  constantly  longed  for  a 
broken  heart  and  to  lie  low  before  God.    He  could 


COMMUNION   WITH  NATURE.  131 

not  bear  to  think  of  being  no  more  humble  than 
other  Christians.  "  Others  speak  of  their  longing 
to  be  '  hmnbled  to  the  dust ; '  that  may  be  a  proper 
expression  for  them,  but  I  always  think  of  myself, 
that  I  ought,  and  it  is  an  expression  that  has  long 
been  natural  for  me  to  use  in  prayer,  '  to  lie  infi- 
nitely low  before  God.'  "  If  h«if preached  to  others 
the  necessity  of  dependence  upon  God's  gi'ace  and 
strength,  of  standing,  only  in  the  righteousness  of 
Christ,  and  of  adoring  the  sovereignty  which  pre- 
sides over  the  universe,  it  was  not  as  mere  tenets 
of  a  sound  doctrine.  He  had  come  for  liimself  to 
have  this  sense  of  absolute  dependelice  ;  he  ab- 
horred his  own  righteousness ;  the  thought  of  any 
goodness  in  himself  was  detestable  to  him.  Once 
more,  in  1739,  he  was  overcome  and  burst  forth  into 
loud  weeping  as  he  thought  how  meet  and  suitable 
it  was  that  God  should  govern  the  world,  ordering 
all  things  according  to  His  own  pleasure. 

It  is  suggestive  to  note  that  these  high  expe- 
riences are  always  recorded  as  coming  to  Jiim  when 
he  is  alone  with  nature,  as  when  he  ride^  through 
retired  and  lonely  roads,  or,  leaving  his  horse, 
plunges  into  the  still  depths  of  the  forest.  This 
sympathy  with  nature  had  shown  itself  when  he 
was  a  child,  leading  him  into  solitary  places  in  the 
woods  in  order  to  communion  with  God  in  prayer. 
In  his  youth  also  he  had  displayed  a  marvellous 
aptitude  for  reading  the  secrets  of  the  external 
world.  Though  he  had  abandoned  the  study  of 
^  Dwight,  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  133. 


132  THE  PARISH  MINISTER. 

natural  science  when  lie  turned  to  theology,  liis 
days  were  still  bound  together  by  natural  piety. 
In  the  contrast  also  which  nature  offered  with  its 
unconscious  life,  where  there  is  no  continuous  strain 
and  effort  of  anxious  purpose,  he  could  find  com- 
fort and  relief,  —  a  closer  communion  with  God 
than  when  scrutinizing  the  workings  of  the  intense 
and  concentrated  will. 


SECOND  PERIOD. 

TfiE  GREAT  AWAKENING.    1735-1750. 

— *— 

I. 

KEVIVAL    AT    NORTHAMPTON.  NARRATIVE   OF 

SURPRISING   CONVERSIONS. 

The  preaching  of  Edwards,  of  which  ilhistra- 
tions  have  been  given,  could  at  no  time  have  been 
listened  to  with  indifference.  If  on  the  one  hand 
it  may  have  provoked  intense  resistance,  on  the 
other  hand,  when  received  as  true,  it  must  have 
been  followed  by  some  extraordinary  attestation  of 
its  power,  or,  in  the  current  phraseology,  have  been 
remarkably  blessed.  The  time  had  now  come  for 
that  great  ecclesiastical  reaction  or  revival,  which- 
ever we  may  term  it,  for  which  synods  had  been 
laboring,  though  ineffectually,  for  nearly  fifty  years. 
The  lamentations  of  clergy  and  laity  over  the  low 
estate  of  the  church,  the  aspirations  for  a  church  re- 
stored to  its  pristine  earnestness,  as  in  the  early  days 
of  New  England  history,  —  these  were  prophetic  of 
the  event  which  now  came  to  pass  under  the  in- 
spiration of  Edwards'  influence.  To  him  belongs 
the  credit  of  initiating  a  movement  which,  begin- 
ning  at   Northampfon,  was  to   spread   over  New 


134  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

England  and  tlirougliout  the  colonies  in  America, — 
wliich  was  to  penetrate  into  Scotland  and  England, 
stimulating  and  giving  form  to  ideas  which  were 
already  fermenting  in  the  mind  of  Wesley.^ 

The  impulse  of  the  Great  Awakening  was  a 
theological  conviction  which  first  took  shape  in 
Edwards'  mind,  —  a  belief  in  the  immediate  action 
of  the  Divine  Spirit  upon  the  human  soul.  When 
Edwards  as  a  youth  was  meditating  upon  the  di- 
vine immanence  as  constituting  the  reality  of  the 
outward  world,  he  was  prej^aring  himself  for  his 
distinctive  task.  At  some  later  stage  of  his  history 
(the  exact  moment  is  unkno^vn,  as  the  process  is  un- 
described),  he  took  a  step  which  carried  him  beyond 
Berkeley  by  appl3dng  the  Berkeleyan  principle  to 
the  human  mind.  God  was  then  seen  to  be  hold- 
ing as  direct  and  immediate  a  relationship  to  the 
sold  as  he  held  to  the  external  world.  This  prin- 
ciple became  the  foundation  of  Edwards'  doctrine 
of  conversion. 


1  In  her  Life  of  Wesley,  p.  196,  Miss  Wedgwood  remarks : 
'*  A  great  awakening  to  the  interests  of  eternity,  as  they  would 
then  he  called,  had  already  taken  place  in  America,  an  account 
of  which,  written  by  Jonathan  Edwards,  under  whose  preaching 
it  had  originated,  was  read  by  Wesley  during  a  walk  from  Lon- 
don to  Oxford  (173!^).  '  Surely  this  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is 
marvellous  in  our  eyes,'  he  writes  in  his  journal  after  the  perusal. 
Nothing  equal  to  the  sudden  and  general  emotion  described  by 
Edwards  had  as  yet  occurred  in  his  own  country,  and  he  doubtless 
was  led  to  desire  earnestly  that  England  might  not  lag  behind 
America  in  the  path  of  gfrace."  Three  months  after  this  date 
occurs  the  first  instance  of  "bodily  effects"  under  Wesley's 
preaching. 


THE  DOCTRINE   OF  CONVERSION.  135 

But  the  origin  of  the  principle  may  be  traced 
still  further  back  until  we  come  to  the  peculiar 
ideas  wliich  Calvin  had  stamped  upon  the  churches 
owning  allegiance  to  his  authority.  While  Calvin 
had  separated  God  and  man  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  make  almost  impossible  a  communication  be- 
tween the  divine  and  the  human,  he  had  endeav- 
ored to  compensate  for  this  deficiency  in  his  theol- 
ogy by  attaching  greater  importance  to  the  office 
and  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Luther  had  con- 
nected God  and  man  through  the  medium  of  de- 
vout feeling,  so  that  the  word  of  God  in  Scripture 
became  the  reflex  of  human  experience.  Calvin 
regarded  Scripture  as  an  arbitrary  and  external 
revelation  of  the  divine  will.  In  order  to  bring 
the  mind  to  a  recognition  of  the  truth  of  Scripture, 
he  presupposed  an  activity  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  bore  testimony  in  the  heart  to  the  truth  of 
the  written  Word.  This  element  in  Calvin's  teach- 
ing does  not  appear  at  once  as  directly  operative 
in  the  theology  of  the  Reformed  churches.  It  first 
became  an  effective  principle,  not  in  the  Presby- 
terian communions  of  Scotland  or  England,  but 
in  the  more  extreme  form  of  Calvinism  known  as 
Independency.  And  it  was  not  in  England,  but  in 
the  Puritan  churches  of  the  New  England  theoc- 
racy, that  the  custom  first  became  a  general  one, 
of  requiring  a  statement  of  the  experience  wrought 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  within  the  soul,  as  a  condition 
of  church  membership.  In  so  doing  the  Puritans 
of  New  England  had  introduced  a  theological  as 


136  TnE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

well  as  a  practical  idea,  which,  however  obnoxious 
it  may  have  been  in  its  workings,  was  none  the  less 
of  profound  significance  for  the  future  of  religion 
and  theology.  It  was  destined  to  spread  to  Eng- 
land, and  to  revive  the  spirit  of  Presbyterianism  ; 
it  was  to  be  the  means  of  bringing  the  Calvinistic 
theology  into  line  with  the  inwardness  of  German 
theology.  It  was  this  doctrine  which  was  taken 
up  by  Edwards,  and  was  combined  with  his  specu- 
lative principles  of  the  immediacy  of  the  divine 
action,  whether  in  the  external  world  or  in  the 
sphere  of  human  thought  and  feeling. 

It  was  therefore  no  accidental  circumstance  that 
the  first  great  instance  of  what  are  called  revivals 
should  have  been  witnessed  in  America  and  kot  in 
England.  The  idea  of  revivals  is  the  gift  of 
American  to  foreign  Calvinism.  Methodism  also 
appears  as  indebted  to  Puritanism  chiefly  for  this 
leading  characteristic  of  its  system  of  religious  cul- 
ture. When  the  Puritan  churches  arose  from 
their  depression,  whether  in  England  or  America, 
they  found  the  principle  of  their  restoration  in  a 
seed  of  life  after  their  own  kind,  which  had  long 
remained  dormant,  but  which  was  first  quickened 
into  vital  power  in  the  mind  of  Edwards.  It  is  for 
this  reason,  among  others,  that  he  deserves  recog- 
nition as  a  theologian  who  has  sensibly  affected  the 
interests  of  scientific  and  of  practical  theology. 
That  he  had  not  entirely  measured  the  significance 
of  the  principle,  or  that  it  was  still  accompanied  by 
some  imperfection  in  its  statement ;  that  it  needed 


THE  IMMEDIATE  DIVINE  INFLUENCE.       137 

to  be  supplemented  with  other  truth  in  order  to  its 
clearer  and  more  consistent  presentation,  —  this 
will  be  apparent  as  we  follow  him  in  his  progress 
through  the  issues  created  by  the  Great  Awaken- 
ing. But  yet  he  stands  supreme  among  Protestant 
theologians,  at  least  in  the  Reformed  churches,  for 
firm  adlierence  to  the  principle  despite  all  obstacles 
and  discouragements.  We  must  go  back  to  the 
mystics  of  the  Middle  Ages,  or  to  the  fathers  of  the 
ancient  church,  to  find  a  predecessor  for  Edwards 
who  apprehended  and  urged  this  truth  with  equal 
power.  It  is  true  that  Fox  and  Barclay  among  the 
Quakers  had  taught  the  same  essential  doctrine. 
If  Edwards  surpasses  them,  it  is  because  he 
grounds  his  conviction  upon  a  philosophical  basis, 
and  expounds  it  in  more  scientific  manner.  But 
while  his  doctrine  is  that  of  the  "  inner  light,"  it 
assumes  a  different  form.  From  one  point  of  view 
more  effective  because  associated  with  his  thought 
of  God  as  energizing  will,  it  suffers  by  its  restric- 
tion to  the  elect,  instead  of  being  the  prerogative 
of  a  common  humanity. 

There  had  been  movements  marked  by  religious 
fervor,  here  and  there  among  the  churches,  for 
many  years  before  Edwards  appeared.  So  far  as 
they  received  a  name,  they  were  spoken  of  as  occa- 
sions of  increased  attention  to  religion.  They  had 
been  known  in  East  Windsor  under  the  ministry 
of  Edwards'  father.  Mr.  Stoddard  counted  five  of 
them  during  his  ministry  at  Northampton,  compar- 
ing them  to  seasons  of  harvest.    Small  as  they  may 


138  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

have  been,  tliey  were  the  harbingers  of  the  great 
agency  which  was  to  create  an  independent  life 
in  the  churches.  The  country  could  not  there- 
fore have  been  taken  wholly  by  surprise  when  the 
e^^traordinary  movement  began  at  Northampton 
which  fastened  upon  that  remote  town  the  interest 
of  the  provinces.  The  event  has  been  described 
by  Edwards,  in  his  Narrative  of  Surprising  Con- 
versions, with  local  touches  that  bring  the  scene 
vividly  before  us.  The  Narrative  reads  as  if  it  were 
intended  to  be  a  philosoi3hical  account  of  what  had 
occurred,  and  not  a  mere  enthusiastic  report  with 
a  design  to  enkindle  enthusiasm  *in  the  reader.  It 
was  written  at  the  request  of  one  of  the  Boston 
clergy,  and  was  not  long  in  finding  its  way  into  Scot- 
land and  England.  The  importance  of  the  Narra- 
tive justifies  some  detailed  account  of  its  contents. 
The  people  of  Northampton,  as  Edwards  thinks 
it  necessary  to  remark,  were  not  in  any  respect 
different  from  other  people  in  the  province.  They 
were  as  sober,  orderly,  and  good  sort  of  people  as 
in  any  part  of  New  England.  But  the  town  had 
its  peculiarities,  its  advantages  and  disadvantages. 
The  "  families  dwelling  more  compactly  together 
than  in  any  town  of  such  a  bigness  in  those  parts 
of  the  country  "  was  a  reason  why  its  corruptions 
and  its  reformations  were  more  swiftly  proj)agated. 
The  isolation  of  the  town  in  a  corner  of  the  country 
had  served  as  a  barrier  against  vice  as  well  as  er- 
ror and  variety  of  opinion.  It  was  also  Edwards' 
opinion,  at  least  at  this  time,  that  the  people  were 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  SITUATION.  139 

chiefly  remarkable  for  religion  and  for  attainments 
in  Christian  experience,  circumstances  which  were 
chiefly  owing  to  the  influence  of  his  grandfather 
and  predecessor.  But  shortly  after  Mr.  Stoddard's 
death  in  1729  there  came  a  time  of  extraordinary 
dulness  in  religion.  Licentiousness  now  besran 
and  continued  for  some  years  to  prevail.  The 
youth  of  the  town  became  ''  addicted  to  night- walk- 
ing and  frequenting  the  tavern ;  "  the  lewd  prac- 
tices of  some  exceedingly  corrupted  others.  "  It 
was  their  manner  very  frequently  to  get  together 
in  conventions  of  both  sexes  for  mirth  and  jollity, 
which  they  called  f rolicks  ;  and  they  \«ould  spend 
the  greater  part  of  the  night  in  them,  without  any 
regard  to  order  in  the  families  which  they  belonged 
to ;  and  indeed  family  government  did  much  fail 
in  the  town.  It  was  become  very  customary  with 
many  of  our  young  people  to  be  indecent  in  their 
carriage  at  meeting,  which  doubtless  would  not 
have  prevailed  to  such  a  degree  had  it  not  been 
that  my  grandfather,  through  his  great  age  (though 
he  retained  his  powers  surprisingly  to  the  last),  was 
not  so  able  to  observe  them."  A  spirit  of  conten- 
tion also  existed  between  two  parties  in  the  to^^^l 
which  created  jealousy  and  opposition  in  public 
affairs.  A  custom  which  then  prevailed  made  the 
evening  which  preceded  the  Sabbath  a  part  of  holy 
time  ;  and  it  was  a  source  of  evil  that  the  young 
people  had  fallen  into  the  habit  of  devoting  the 
evening  after  the  Sabbath  as  a  time  for  mirth  and 
company-keeping, — a  practice  adapted  to  dissipate 
any  good  influence  produced  by  the  public  lecture. 


140  THE    GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Sucli  is  the  substance  of  Edwards'  preface  to 
Lis  Narrative.  Its  object  may  have  been  to  show 
that  nothing  in  the  human  environment  of  the 
church  at  Northampton  could  be  adduced  as  ex- 
plaining the  extraordinary  movement  wliich  was 
now  to  take  place  ;  that  on  the  contrary  it  was  the 
work  of  God  alone.  But  given  the  circumstances 
above  described,  —  a  town  predisposed  to  religion 
by  all  its  antecedents ;  a  moment  in  its  history 
when  no  great  external  interest  preoccupied  the 
minds  of  the  people  ;  an  isolated  town,  far  from  the 
centre  of  activity,  in  which  the  want  of  healthy 
amusements  or  excitement  to  give  food  to  the  im- 
agination had  a  tendency  to  breed  as  a  substitute 
the  more  vulgar  forms  of  immorality  ;  and  add  to 
these,  Edwards'  force  as  a  preacher,  his  unique  per- 
sonality which  intensified  the  effect  of  his  preach- 
ing, as  if  by  some  unexplained  magnetic  power, 
—  in  the  light  of  this  conjuncture  of  favoring 
circumstances,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  religious 
awakening  of  New  England  should  have  begun  at 
Northampton.  These  things  are  not  mentioned 
in  order  to  deny  or  to  depreciate  the  divineness 
of  the  work  which  Edwards  is  describing.  But 
it  is  none  the  less  necessary  to  bear  them  in  mind. 
Had  Edwards  made  allowance  for  them,  his  judg- 
ment on  the  incidents  of  the  movement  would 
have  been  less  open  to  criticism. 

It  was  so  early  as  the  year  1733  that  signs  of  a 
change  began  to  appear  among  the  younger  pai-t 
of  the  people,  in  consequence  of  which  the  pastor 


SIGNS   OF  A    CHANGE.  141 

was  able  to  break  up  the  habit  of  company-keep- 
ing after  the  public  lecture  on  Sunday.  Instead 
of  this  custom,  the  practice  was  introduced  of 
spending  the  Sunday  evenings  in  social  religion, 
the  people  dividing  themselves  into  several  com- 
panies for  the  purpose.  At  this  time  Edwards 
began  preaching  the  sermons  already  mentioned 
on  justification  by  faith,  the  justice  of  God  in  the 
damnation  of  sinners,  the  excellency  of  Christ, 
the  duty  of  pressing  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
All  accounts  agree  in  ascribing  to  these  sermons 
a  prominent  place  among  the  causes  which  pro- 
moted the  revival.  How  highly  the  people  re- 
garded these  particular  sermons  is  shown,  as  Ed- 
wards remarks,  by  a  willingness  to  incur  the 
expense  of  their  publication  at  a  time  when  the 
erection  of  a  new  meeting-house  was  already  mak- 
ing a  heavy  demand  upon  their  finances.  One 
reason  for  this  interest  was  the  fear  which  had 
begun  to  spread  that  God  might  withdraw  from 
the  land,  or  that  it  would  be  given  over  to  strange 
doctrine.  To  the  prevalence  of  this  fear,  it  is 
needless  to  say  that  Edwards  had  contributed. 

And  now  many  began  to  be  moved  and  much 
affected.  A  young  woman  who  had  been  one  of 
the  greatest  "  company -keepers  "  in  the  whole 
town  became  "  serious,  giving  evidence  of  a  heart 
truly  broken  and  sanctified."  Presently  upon  this 
a  great  and  universal  concern  about  religion  and 
the  eternal  world  became  universal  throughout  the 
town,  among  persons  of  all  degrees  and  all  ages. 


142  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

"  It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  December  (1734) 
that  the  spirit  of  God  began  extraordinarily  to  set 
in,  and  wonderfully  to  work  amongst  us."  And 
now  all  other  talk  but  about  spiritual  and  eternal 
things  was  soon  thrown  by.  Conversation  upon 
all  occasions  turned  on  these  things,  so  much  so 
that  worldly  affairs  were  treated  as  of  very  little 
consequence.  Business  was  followed,  but  without 
any  special  disposition  for  it ;  indeed,  there  was 
danger  that  temporal  affairs  would  be  neglected 
in  the  interest  of  religion.  The  main  thing  with 
all  of  every  sort  was  to  get  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  or  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.  There 
was  scarcely  a  single  person  in  the  town,  either  old 
or  young,  that  was  left  unconcerned  about  the  things 
of  the  eternal  world.  Meetings  were  appointed 
in  private  houses,  and  were  wont  to  be  greatly 
thronged. 

"  The  work  of  God  as  it  was  carried  on,  and  the 
number  of  true  saints  multipHed,  soon  made  a  glorious 
alteration  in  the  town  ;  so  that  in  the  spring  and  summer, 
anno  1735,  the  town  seemed  to  be  full  of  the  presence 
of  God :  it  was  never  so  full  of  love,  nor  so  full  of  joy, 
and  yet  so  full  of  distress,  as  it  was  then.  There  were 
remarkable  tokens  of  God's  presence  in  almost  every 
house.  It  was  a  time  of  joy  in  families  on  the  account 
of  salvation's  being  brought  unto  them,  parents  rejoicing 
over  their  children  as  being  new-born,  and  husbands 
over  their  wives,  and  wives  over  their  husbands.  The 
goings  of  God  were  then  seen  in  His  sanctuary^  God's 
day  was  a  delight,  and  His  tabernacles  were  amiable. 


PHASES  OF  EXPERIENCE^  143 

Our  public  assemblies  were  then  beautiful ;  the  congre- 
gation was  alive  in  God's  service,  every  one  earnestly 
intent  on  the  public  worship,  every  hearer  eager  to 
drink  in  the  words  of  the  minister  as  they  came  from 
his  mouth  :  the  assembly  in  general  were  from  time  to 
time  in  tears  while  the  word  was  preached  ;  some  weep- 
ing with  sorrow  and  distress,  others  with  joy  and  love, 
others  with  pity  and  concern  for  the  souls  of  their  neigh- 
bors. Our  public  praises  were  then  greatly  enlivened ; 
God  was  then  served  in  our  psalmody  in  some  measure 
in  the  beauty  of  holiness.  It  has  been  observable,  that 
there  has  been  scarce  any  part  of  divine  worship 
wherein  good  men  amongst  us  have  had  grace  so  drawn 
forth,  and  their  hearts  so  lifted  up  in  the  ways  of  God, 
as  in  singing  His  praises  :  our  congregation  excelled  all 
that  ever  I  knew  in  the  external  part  of  the  duty  before, 
the  men  generally  carrying  regularly  and  well  three 
parts  of  music  and  the  women  a  part  by  themselves ; 
but  now  they  were  evidently  wont  to  sing  with  unusual 
elevation  of  heart  and  voice,  which  made  the  duty  pleas- 
ant indeed." 

The  chief  interest  of  the  Narrative  is  the  pic-i 
ture  it  presents  of  Edwards  himseK,  eagerly, 
studying  every  phase  of  the  movement,  in  order 
to  the  verification  of  his  theology.  He  carefully 
collates  and  examines  the  experiences  of  those 
affected,  as  if  he  were  following  the  actual  traces 
left  by  a  Divine  Spirit.  He  was  quick  to  notice 
all  that  confirmed  the  working  hypothesis  ^vitli 
which  he  came  to  his  task,  and  yet  not  incapable 
of  seeing  things  for  which  he  could  find  no  for- 
mula.    He  also  notes  a  rich  variety  of  experience 


144  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

where  others  have  labored  for  a  special  type.  But 
there  is  a  tendency,  even  with  him,  to  put  a  forced 
interpretation  upon  what  he  witnesses,  in  order 
that  it  may  accord  with  a  preconceived  theory. 
He  does  not  realize  that  the  experiences  he  ob- 
serves may  be  in  some  measure  but  the  echo  to 
his  own  teaching.  Believing  that  his  teaching  has 
been  the  exact  reproduction  of  revealed  truth,  the 
process  among  the  people  appeared  to  him  as  if 
wholly  divine.  It  seemed  to  him  an  exceptional 
moment  in  human  history,  as  when  a  rift  in  the 
clouds  enables  an  observer  to  gaze  directly  upon 
phenomena  otherwise  concealed  from  his  view. 
He  may  not  have  so  expressed  liimseK,  but  in  re- 
ality he  is  seeking  to  ground  his  theology  in  the 
human  consciousness.  What  we  call  psychology 
was  to  him  an  unkno^vn  science,  and  yet  no  mod- 
ern psychologist  could  have  laid  more  stress  upon 
the  importance  of  observing  the  different  phases 
of  human  experience.  In  this  study,  his  concep- 
tion of  inspiration  or  revelation  enabled  him  to 
move  with  perfect  freedom.  The  same  spirit 
which  clarified  the  vision  of  apostles  or  prophets 
was  now  illuminating  the  minds  of  the  common 
people  with  a  divine  supernatural  light. 

The  first  point  upon  which  Edwards  dwells,  in 
describing  the  manner  in  which  persons  are  wrought 
upon,  is  what  may  be  called  the  tragic  element  in 
the  process.  Salvation  consists  in  a  great  deliver- 
ance. The  first  stage  of  awakened  consciousness 
is  the  realization  of  an  awful  danger  and  the  im- 


THE  TRAGIC  ELEMENT.  145 

portance  of  speedy  escape.  This  stage  of  fear  and 
anxiety  may  vary  in  degree  of  duration  or  intensity, 
but  no  one  is  described  as  attaining  peace  without 
some  degree  of  inward  trouble.  With  some  the 
sense  of  divine  displeasure  and  of  the  danger  of 
damnation  was  so  great  that  they  could  not  sleep, 
or  they  awakened  mth  heaviness  and  distress  still 
abiding  on  their  spirits.  These  apprehensions  of 
misery  and  danger  for  the  most  part  increased  the 
nearer  they  approached  deliverance.  A  melan- 
choly distemper  at  times  mixed  with  these  genuine 
fears.  With  these  cases  Edwards  remarks  that  it 
is  difficult  to  deal.  Everything  that  is  said  to  them 
they  turn  the  wrong  way,  or  to  their  own  disadvan- 
tage :  there  is  nothing  that  the  Devil  seems  to  make 
so  great  a  handle  of  as  a  melancholy  humor.  But 
aj)art  from  such  cases,  there  are  instances  noted  of 
persons  whose  sense  of  danger  and  misery  has  been 
so  great  that  a  little  more  would  have  destroyed 
them.  Others  were  brought  to  the  borders  of  de- 
spair, and  it  looked  to  them  black  as  midnight  just 
before  the  day  dawned  within  their  souls.  In  some, 
however,  the  terrors  were  not  so  sharp  when  near 
comfort  as  before :  their  convictions  have  rather 
led  them  to  see  their  own  universal  depravity  and 
their  deadness  in  sin.  With  others,  again,  the 
awakening  process  appeared  like  a  great  struggle 
with  some  hostile  power,  as  of  a  serpent  disturbed 
or  enraged.  These  have  experienced  heart-risings 
against  God,  murmurings  at  His  ways,  and  envy 
toward  those  who  are  thought  to  have  been  con- 


146  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

verted.  In  dealing  with  tliem  it  was  much  insisted 
on  that  they  were  in  danger  of  quenching  the 
Spirit,  or  of  committing  the  sin  against  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

The  second  stage  in  this  process  of  an  awaken- 
ing soul  was  the  realization  of  an  absolute  depend- 
ence on  sovereign  power  and  grace,  and  also  the 
universal  need  of  a  divine  mediator.  To  these 
results  the  legal  strivings,  the  fears,  the  anxieties, 
appeared  to  tend  as  if  by  a  necessary  law.  What 
Edwards  meant  by  the  divine  sovereignty  we  have 
already  seen,  and  also  how  he  had  set  forth  the 
necessity  for  a  divine  mediation.  As  he  surveyed 
the  field  of  the  Spirit's  operation,  he  saw  that 
many  who  were  struggling  for  peace  with  God 
found  great  difficulty  in  its  attainment,  while  some 
never  achieved  the  desired  result.  He  has  enu- 
merated the  difficulties  encountered  with  a  minute- 
ness which  it  is  not  necessary  to  follow.  We  get 
a  confused  picture  in  which  the  consciousness  of 
sin  in  the  sight  of  God  leads  the  sufferer  in  various 
ways  to  seek  relief.  Persons  in  this  condition 
wander  in  a  kind  of  labyrinth,  and  some  wander 
ten  times  as  long  as  others  before  they  gain  the 
outlet.  Some  did  not  have  great  terrors,  but  had 
a  very  quick  work.  Some  were  under  trouble  but 
a  few  days,  others  for  months  and  years.  The  one 
conclusion  to  which  it  is  necessary  that  somehow 
all  must  come  is  the  discovery  of  the  justice  of 
God.  Those  who  reach  this  conclusion  express 
themselves  in  such  ways  as  this,  —  that  God  would 


SPIRITUAL  METAMORPHOSIS.  147 

be  just  if  He  were  to  bestow  mercy  on  every  person 
in  the  town,  and  damn  themselves  to  all  eternity. 
So  gTeat  has  been  their  sinfulness  that  they  feel 
that  if  they  were  to  seek  and  take  the  utmost  pains 
all  their  lives,  God  might  justly  cast  them  into  hell. 
All  their  labors,  prayers,  and  tears  can  make  no 
atonement  for  sin.  The  sense  of  sinfulness  also 
finds  diversified  expression :  with  some  it  is  par- 
ticular sins  that  appear  vile  and  loathsome,  with 
others  it  is  the  acknowledgment  of  a  general  sin- 
ful condition.  But  to  all  must  come  the  revelation 
of  the  divine  justice.  On  the  eve  of  this  great 
discovery  there  is  restlessness,  and  struggle,  and 
tumult ;  as  soon  as  the  conviction  is  reached,  there 
follows  an  unexpected  quietness  and  composure. 
It  seems  to  fascinate  Edwards'  mind  as  he  witnesses 
this  strange  metamorphosis  from  a  child  of  earth 
and  hell  to  one  of  the  children  of  God.  When  a 
person  thinks  it  is  all  over  with  him  as  he  makes 
this  discovery  of  divine  justice,  he  is  actually  on 
the  verge  of  being  born  again.  There  is  a  weird 
sense  of  satisfaction  even  in  confessing  the  di^^ne 
justice.  Some  have  appeared  to  revel  in  it,  to  have 
had  such  a  deep  feeling  of  the  excellency  of  God's 
justice,  and  such  indignation  against  themselves, 
that  they  have  spoken  of  their  willingness  to  be 
damned.  Edwards'  comment  on  this  mood  indi- 
cates no  sympathy  with  it.  He  thinks  they  cannot 
have  had  clear  and  distinct  ideas  of  damnation,  nor 
does  any  word  in  the  Bible  require  such  seK-denial 
as  this.    What  they  really  mean  to  say  is,  that  sal- 


148  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

vation  seems  too  good  for  them ;  so  great  has  been 
their  sin,  that  it  seems  to  them  inconsistent  with 
the  glory  of  God's  majesty  that  they  should  be 
saved. 

There  were  many,  however,  who  could  not  arrive 
at  this  or  any  similar  state  of  mind,  despite  their 
struggles  and  tears.  What  was  the  message  which 
Edwards  proclaimed  to  these  and  others  who  con- 
tinued for  years  in  a  state  of  distress  or  agony  ? 
It  does  not  occur  to  him  that  there  may  be  even 
a  larger  breadth  and  variety  in  God's  method  of 
dealing  with  souls  than  he  is  capable  of  discerning. 
Although  he  saw  more  than  many  of  his  contem- 
poraries, he  still  suffers  under  a  limitation  of  his 
vision.  He  knows  nothing  of  a  gradual  maturing 
of  the  will  under  a  divine  education.  There  is 
no  such  thing  with  him  as  a  quiet,  unconscious 
growth  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  For  every 
one  is  reserved  the  same  tragical  process  before 
salvation  can  be  obtained.  And  the  bitterness  of 
the  tragedy  lies  in  the  uncertainty  of  the  result,  as 
also  in  the  absence  of  divine  sympathy,  until  suc- 
cess has  been  achieved.  No  one  can  be  sure  that 
the  divine  love  is  extended  to  him  in  his  effort  to 
reach  out  after  God.  Edwards  is  certain  that  to 
have  preached  such  a  doctrine  would  have  been 
disastrous.  It  would  have  put  an  end  to  the 
awakenings ;  it  would  have  established  strife  and 
contention  with  God  because  He  accepted  some  or 
rejected  others ;  it  would  have  blocked  the  way  to 
that  humiliation  before  the  sovereign  will,  which 


GRACIOUS  DISCOVERIES.  149 

is  assumed  to  be  tlie  first  step  in  tlie  process  of  sal-  1 
vation.  We  liave  met  with  this  difficulty  before 
in  Edwards'  theology,  and  it  is  constantly  recur- 
ring. His  doctrine  of  divine  sovereignty  was  built 
upon  the  doctrine  of  election,  and  the  doctrine  of 
election  made  it  impossible  that  God  should  love 
any  but  His  elect.  Hence  the  only  encouragement 
which  could  be  held  out  in  the  storm  of  the  soul's 
conflict  was  the  abstract  principle  of  the  mercy  of 
God  in  Christ,  or  the  probability  of  success  to 
those  who  had  strength  to  hold  out  until  the  de- 
layed relief  should  come.  "^ 
When  the  legal  distress  had  done  its  work,  there  '  • 
came  a  calm  to  the  soul,  with  special  and  delight- 
fid  manifestations  of  the  grace  of  God.  Tliis 
period  of  what  Edwards  calls  "  gi-acious  discover- 
ies "  also  varies  in  different  persons.  Many  con- 
tinue a  long  time  in  a  course  of  gracious  exercises 
and  experiences  before  they  know  themselves  to  be 
converted.  But  his  observations  lead  him  to  con- 
clude that  those  who  have  had  great  terrors  are 
more  apt  to  enter  suddenly  into  light  and  com- 
fort. It  is  in  this  stage  that  wise  direction  is  most 
needed.  It  is  impossible  here  to  follow  Edwards, 
as  he  specifies  the  different  states  of  religious  con- 
sciousness in  which  the  subsidence  of  anxiety 
leaves  the  soul.  He  enumerates  many  distinct 
varieties,  all  of  which  he  regards  as  genuine, 
remarking  that  God  is  further  from  confining 
HimseK  to  certain  steps  and  a  particular  method 
than  it  may  be  some  do  imagine.     These  fleeting 


150  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

phases  of  spiritual  experience  are  all  very  real  to 
Edwards'  view,  more  real  than  any  similar  number 
of  varieties  of  species  in  the  animal  or  vegetable 
kingdom.  The  one  common  element  that  runs 
through  them  all  is  relationsliip  by  feeling  or 
emotion  to  an  infinite  Person.  He  would  never 
have  defined  religion,  as  some  have  done,  to  be 
morality  quickened  by  enthusiasm.  Morality  is 
there  by  a  stringent  necessity,  but  it  is  rather 
tjpien  for  granted  than  placed  in  the  foreground. 

Edwards  is  specially  desirous  that  his  converts 
should  express  some  conscious  relationship  to 
Christ,  as  well  as  to  God.  If  his  teaching  regard- 
ing justification  by  faith  were  true,  Christ  must 
of  necessity  reveal  Himself  in  every  soul.  On  this 
pointy  his  satisfaction  was  not  always  complete.  A 
certain  deistic  tone  marks  the  experience  of  some. 
"  It  must  needs  be  confessed  that  Christ  is  not 
always  distinctly  and  explicitly  thought  of  in  the 
first  sensible  act  of  grace."  But  turning  over  in 
his  mind  the  confessions  of  such  as  these,  he  finds 
that  they  imply  the  Christ,  though  His  name  be 
not  mentioned. 

This  period  of  gracious  strivings  and  discoveries 
is  a  confused  and  mixed  period,  —  a  period  when 
souls  are  coming  to  the  birth,  when  the  blind  are 
fust  beginning  to  see,  and,  their  spiritual  senses  not 
being  trained,  they  may  see  men  as  trees  walking. 
It  is  a  period  when  resolutions  are  formed,  and 
holy  longings  after  God  and  Christ  are  nourished. 
It  is  now  possible  to  admit  a  direct  and  supernat- 


SPIRITUAL  DIRECTORSHIP.  151 

ural  guidance,  whicli  draws  fortli  tlie  powers  of  the 
soul,  —  the  da^vning  of  a  bright  day  when  the  soul, 
turning  its  face  toward  the  sun,  opens  out  as  flow- 
ers open  their  leaves  under  kind  and  genial  influ- 
ences. 

In  his  capacity  as  a  spiritual  director  Ed\\{:ards 
strove  to  be  prudent,  though  in  after  years  he  saw 
that  he  had  made  mistakes,  and  lamented  his  want 
of  experience.  He  was  criticised  at  this  time  for 
pronouncing  too  positively  upon  people's  condition, 
—  for  giving  or  withholding  certificates  of  conver- 
sion. It  was  surely  a  task  full  of  peril,  from 
which  any  one  might  sin-ink,  to  pronounce  judg- 
ment upon  one's  fellows,  —  to  assure  some  that 
'they  had  entered  into  the  life  that  is  supernatural, 
or  decide  that  the  experience  of  others  did  not 
warrant  a  favorable  conclusion.  But  at  this  time 
Edwards  did  not  shrink  from  a  task  which  seemed 
to  him  to  lie  in  the  way  of  duty.  After  he  had 
seen  the  mischief  of  rash  and  premature  judg- 
ments, he  would  have  been  content  to  lay  down 
principles,  allowing  to  the  judgment  of  charity  the 
largest  possible  scope.  As  it  was,  he  took  a  more 
comprehensive  view  than  others  in  his  age,  vastly 
more  comprehensive  than  was  the  fashion  when 
revivals  had  been  reduced  to  a  part  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical machinery.  He  warned  his  people  against 
being  deceived  in  their  own  case,  or  the  case  of 
others  ;  he  insisted  that  sincerity  of  life  was  bet- 
ter evidence  than  the  manifestation  of  words.  He 
admits  that  it  is  not  necessary  or  possible  for  all 


152  THE  GREAT  A  WAKENING. 

to  be  aware  of  the  exact  moment  when  the  myste- 
rious change  passed  over  them.  He  pointed  out 
the  difference  he  had  observed  in  those  who  gave 
indubitable  evidence  of  having  successfully  met  the 
great  crisis.  With  some,  converting  light  was  a 
glorious  brightness  suddenly  shining ;  with  others, 
it  was  like  the  slow  dawning  of  the  day.  But  in 
all  cases  it  seemed  to  him  "  necessary  to  suppose 
that  there  was  an  immediate  influence  of  the 
Spirit  of  God."  One  of  the  means  by  which  the 
Spirit  often  worked  was  in  bringing  texts  of  Scrip- 
ture to  the  mind.  He  would  not  call  it  an  imme- 
diate revelation  without  the  action  of  the  memory ; 
but  yet  there  was  in  it  an  immediate  ^d  extraor- 
dinary influence  of  the  Spirit  in  leading  the 
thoughts  to  passages  of  the  Bible,  or  exciting  them 
in  the  memory.  Another  illustration  of  the  Spirit's 
working  was  in  giving  a  direct  insight  into  the 
truth  of  the  great  things  of  religion,  an  insight 
more  convincing  than  the  reading  of  many  vol- 
umes of  argument  would  produce.  Those  who 
had  witnessed  this  action  of  the  Spirit  had  seen, 
tasted,  and  felt  the  divinity  and  the  glory  of  Chris- 
tian truth ;  they  might  not  be  able  to  satisfy  an 
inquirer  with  their  reasons  for  believing,  while  yet 
they  have  intuitively  beheld  and  immediately  felt 
its  reality.  And  it  was  a  mistake  into  which  many 
fell,  that,  because  the  illumination  was  in  and 
through  the  reason,  and  so  in  accordance  with 
their  natural  faculties,  that  therefore  it  had  only  a 
human  origin. 


RELIGIOUS  JOY  AND  ECSTASY.  153 

There  was  anotlier  result  of  the  Spirit's  action 
upon  which  Edwards  much  insists,  —  the  spiritual 
delights  and  joys  which  follow  upon  conversion. 
This  had  been  at  times  his  own  experience.  With- 
out some  measure  of  this  joy  and  ecstasy,  it  seems 
as  though  he  would  have  mistrusted  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  Spirit's  work.  Since  God  is  a  su- 
premely happy  Being,  the  soul  united  to  Him  must 
necessarily  share  in  the  divine  blessedness.  Hence 
those  who  are  converted  express  themselves  to  this 
effect,  speaking  of  the  excellency  of  that  pleasure 
and  delight  of  soul  which  they  now  enjoy ;  how  it 
is  far  more  than  sufficient  to  repay  them  for  all 
the  agony  tlijsough  which  they  have  passed ;  how 
far  it  exceeds  all  earthly  pleasures,  making  them 
seem  mean  and  worthless  in  comparison. 

"  The  light  and  comfort  which  some  of  them  enjoy 
gives  a  new  relish  to  their  common  blessings,  and  causes 
all  things  about  them  to  appear  as  it  were  beautiful  and 
sweet  and  pleasant  to  them  ;  all  things  abroad,  the  sun, 
moon,  and  stars,  the  clouds  and  sky,  the  heavens  and 
earth,  appear  as  it  were  with  a  cast  of  divine  glory  and 
sweetness.  The  sweetest  joy  that  these  good  people 
amongst  us  express,  though  it  include  in  it  a  delightful 
sense  of  the  safety  of  their  own  state,  and  that  they  are 
now  out  of  danger  of  hell,  yet  frequently,  in  times  of 
their  highest  spiritual  entertainment,  this  seems  not  to 
be  the  chief  object  of  their  fixed  thought  and  meditation. 
The  supreme  attention  of  their  minds  is  to  the  glorious 
excellences  of  God  in  Christ.  .  .  .  The  joy  that  many 
of  them  speak  is  that  to  which  none  is  to  be  paralleled  ; 
is  that  which  they  find  when  they  are  lowest  in  the  dust, 


154 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 


emptied  most  of  themselves,  and  as  it  were  annihilating 
themselves  before  God,  when  they  are  nothing  and  God 
is  all."  1 

In  a  time  of  such  intense  and  almost  universal 
excitement  as  that  which  pervaded  the  town  of 
Northampton  in  1734-35,  it  was  to  have  been  ex- 
pected that  there  should  be  phenomena  of  a  phys- 
ical kind,  —  a  consequence  indeed  of  the  religious 
excitement,  but  having  no  essential  religious  char- 
acter. There  was  much  less  of  this  kind  of  nervous 
manifestation  in  this  first  revival  at  Northampton 
than  in  the  Great  Awakening  which  followed  five 
years  later.  This  may  have  been  owing  in  part  to 
the  prudence  of  Edwards,  and  to  the  fact  that  he 
kept  the  control  of  the  movement  as  far  as  possi- 
ble in  his  own  hands.  But  under  these  favorable 
circumstances  there  were  some  things  of  a  charac- 
ter to  discredit  the  movement.  Many  persons,  as 
Edwards  remarks,  had  a  mean  idea  of  the  great 
work  from  what  they  heard  of  ''  impressions  made 
on  the  imagination."  These  impressions  consisted 
of  lively  pictures  of  hell,  as  of  some  dreadful  fur- 
nace ;  or  visions  of  Christ  as  a  person  with  glori- 
ous majesty  and  a  sweet  and  gracious  aspect;  or  of 
Christ  upon  the  cross  with  the  blood  running  from 
his  wounds.  Edwards  doubts  if  those  who  had 
these  vivid  impressions  supposed  that  any  objective 
character  corresponded  with  them ;  he  thinks  that 
such  impressions  were  natural  enough,  and  what 
was  to  have  been  expected  from  human  nature  un- 
1  Narrative,  etc.,  vol.  iii.  p.  255. 


IMPRESSIONS  ON  TEE  IMAGINATION.         155 

cler  such  exceptional  circumstances.  He  was  dili- 
gent in  teaching  persons  the  difference  between 
what  was  spiritual  and  what  was  imaginary,  cau- 
tioning them  to  lay  no  stress  on  any  external 
things.  But  he  also  admits  that  there  have  been 
some  few  instances  of  impressions  on  persons'  im- 
aginations that  have  seemed  mysterious  to  him,  and 
which  he  has  been  at  a  loss  to  explain,  uncertain 
whether  they  may  not  have  involved  some  objective 
reality.  But  the  subject  is  merely  alluded  to,  at 
this  time,  in  a  casual  way.  We  may  also  dismiss 
it  here,  recurring  to  it  again,  when  it  had  assumed 
greater  prominence  and  had  become  a  matter  of 
controversy. 

It  has  been  already  remarked  that  morality  as 
such  does  not  at  first  occupy  a  prominent  place  in 
Edwards'  description  of  the  effects  of  the  revival. 
He  is  chiefly  concerned  with  the  emotional  moods 
which  are  aroused  by  coming  into  an  immediate  as 
well  as  endearing  relation  with  God.  As  has  also 
been  pointed  out  when  treating  of  his  theology,  mo- 
rality is  included  in  the  sphere  of  common  grace,  — 
the  grace  which  may  come  to  all,  but  which  does 
not  bring  salvation.  Nowhere  in  his  works  does 
Edwards  enter  into  an  exposition  of  the  moral  law, 
as  enjoined  in  the  second  table  of  the  decalogue. 
He  is  occupied  almost  exclusively  with  the  duty 
towards  God.  But  w^hile  morality  finds  no  place 
in  Edwards'  systematic  theology,  except  as  the 
declaration  of  God's  will  revealed  in  Scripture,  yet 
in  practice  there  is  no  lack  of  emphasis  upon  the 


156  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

moral  duties  of  life.  Edwards  would  not  have 
been  a  Puritan  had  he  shown  indifference  to  the 
moral  law,  by  which  society  is  held  together,  by 
obedience  to  which  comes  self-respect  and  eartlily 
prosperity.  But  he  did  not  discuss  ethical  pre- 
cej)ts,  or  reason  about  their  validity.  He  took 
them  for  granted,  as  if  at  least  so  much  must  be 
required  in  order  to  the  attainment  of  a  higher 
ideal. 

A  beautiful  and  impressive  illustration  of  the  high 
importance  attached  to  the  common  duties  of  life  is 
to  be  found  in  the  Covenant  which  Edwards  drew 
up,  and  which  the  people  of  Northampton  sub- 
scribed. Though  it  belongs  to  a  later  stage  of  the 
revival,  when  its  necessity  was  more  stringently 
felt,  its  introduction  here  may  not  be  inappropri- 
ate. There  is  a  reminder  in  it  of  a  similar  cove- 
nant which  Pliny,  the  Roman  governor,  describes  as 
forming  a  part  of  the  worship  of  God  in  the  primi- 
tive Christian  assemblies.  Because  of  God's  great 
goodness  and  His  gracious  presence  in  the  towTi  of 
Northampton  during  the  late  spiritual  revival,  — 
so  runs  in  substance  the  preamble  to  the  covenant, 
—  the  people  present  themselves  before  the  Lord, 
to  renounce  their  evil  ways  and  to  put  away  their 
abominations  from  before  His  eyes.  They  soleihnly 
f)roniise  and  vow  before  the  Lord,  in  all  their  con- 
cerns with  their  neighbors,  to  have  a  strict  regard 
to  rules  of  honesty,  justice,  and  uprightness ;  not  to 
overreach  or  defraud  him  in  any  matter,  or,  either 
wilfully  or  through  want  of  care,  to  injure  him  in 


TAKING   THE  COVENANT.  157 

any  of  his  honest  possessions  or  rights  ;  and  to  have 
a  tender  respect,  not  only  to  their  o^vn  interest,  but 
to  his  ;  and  particularly  never  to  give  him  cause  of 
offence  by  wilf idly  or  negligently  forbearing  to  pay 
their  just  debts ;  wherever  they  may  be  conscious 
of  having  in  the  past  wronged  their  neighbor  in  his 
outward  estate,  never  to  rest  till  they  have  made 
that  restitution  which  the  rules  of  moral  equity  re- 
quire. They  promise  to  avoid  all  backbiting,  evil- 
speaking,  and  slandering,  as  also  everytliing  that 
feeds  a  spirit  of  bitterness  or  ill-will  «^^  secret 
grudge  ;  not  to  ridicide  a  neighbor's  failings,  or 
needlessly  insist  on  his  faults  ;  to  do  nothing  in  a 
spirit  of  revenge.  And  further,  they  will  not  allow 
their  private  interest  or  honor,  or  the  desire  for 
victory  against  a  contrary  party,  to  lead  them  into 
any  course  of  which  their  consciences  woidd  re- 
proach them  as  hurtfid  to  religion  or  the  interests 
of  Christ's  kingdom ;  and  particularly,  in  public 
affairs,  not  to  allow  the  interests  of  party  or  the 
desire  of  worldly  ambition  to  lead  them  counter 
to  the  interest  of  true  religion.  Those  who  are 
young  promise  to  allow  themselves  in  no  diver- 
sions or  pastimes,  meetings  or  companies,  which 
would  hinder  a  devout  spirit  engaged  in  religion, 
to  avoid  everything  that  tends  to  lasciviousness, 
and  which  they  believe  will  not  be  aj^proved  by 
the  infinitely  pure  and  holy  eye  of  God.  They 
finally  consecrate  themselves  to  perform  mth  great 
watchfulness  the  duties  entailed  by  family  rela- 
tionships, whether  parents  and  children,  husbands 


158  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

and  wives,  brothers  and  sisters,  masters,  mistresses, 
and  servants.^ 

Among  the  results  of  this  extraordinary  dispen- 
sation, as  Edwards  calls  it,  was  the  large  addition 
to  the  ranks  of  the  church,  raising  the  number  of 
communicants  to  about  six  hundred  and  twenty. 
The  unusual  spectacle  was  presented  of  persons 
thronging  into  the  church,  nearly  one  hundred 
being  received  at  one  time  and  sixty  at  another, 
whose  explicit  profession  of  Christianity  was  very 
affecting  to  the  congregation.  Of  these,  Edwards 
remarks  significantly,  that  he  had  sufficient  evi- 
dence of  their  conversion,  though  it  was  not  the 
custom  at  Northampton,  as  it  was  in  some  churches 
in  the  country,  to  make  a  credible  relation  of 
their  inward  experience  the  ground  of  admission  to 
the  Lord's  Supper.  In  the  space  of  six  months 
the  number  of  those  converted  was  upwards  of 
three  hundred,  of  whom  as  many  as  one  half  were 
men.  This  also  seemed  to  Edwards  a  remarkable 
fact,  inasmuch  as  he  remembered  to  have  heard 
Mr.  Stoddard  say  that  in  his  time  many  more 
women  were  converted  than  men.  He  was  also 
struck  with  the  large  nmnber  of  children  who  pro- 
fessed what  he  regarded  as  a  genuine  experience. 
Among  them  was  a  child  of  four  years,  whose  case 
seemed  to  him  so  wonderful  that  he  has  related  it 
at  length,  thinking  that  otherwise  it  would  be  in- 
credible ;  and  incredible  it  does  appear,  despite  the 
detail  of  his  statement. 

^  Dwight,  Life  of  Edwards,  pp.  166-168. 


RELIGIOUS   MELANCHOLIA.  159 

The  excitement  of  the  movement  began  to  de- 
cline in  the  spring  of  the  year  1735.  "In  the 
latter  part  of  May  it  began  to  be  very  sensible  that 
the  Spirit  of  God  was  gradually  withdrawing  from 
us,  and  after  this  time  Satan  seemed  to  be  more  let 
loose  and  raged  in  a  dreadful  manner."  The  first 
instance  which  illustrated  his  malignity  was  the 
case  of  a  gentleman  of  high  standing  in  the  town, 
who  fell  into  melancholia,  and  in  this  condition 
committed  suicide.  The  people  of  Northampton 
were  extraordinarily  affected  by  this  event,  being 
as  it  were  struck  with  astonishment.  "  After  this, 
midtitudes  in  this  and  other  towns  seemed  to  have 
it  strongly  suggested  to  them  and  pressed  upon 
them  to  do  as  this  person  had  done.  And  many 
that  seemed  to  be  under  no  melancholy,  some  pious 
persons  that  had  no  special  darkness  or  doubts 
about  the  goodness  of  their  state,  nor  were  under 
any  special  trouble  or  concern  of  mind  about  any- 
thing spiritual  or  temporal,  yet  had  it  urged  upon 
them,  as  if  somebody  had  spoken  to  them,  '  Cut  your 
own  throat  !  note  is  a  good  opportunity.  Now ! 
now ! '  So  that  they  were  obliged  to  fight  with  all 
their  might  to  resist  it,  and  yet  no  reason  suggested 
to  them  why  they  should  do  it." 

We  may  be  thankful  to  Edwards  for  the  frank- 
ness with  which  he  describes  the  e\'il  symptoms 
attending  the  movement  in  its  decline.  They  in- 
dicate the  exhaustion  of  the  nervous  system  after 
the  prolonged  tension  of  the  struggle  or  tragedy 
through  which  the  people   had  been  passing.     A 


160  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

morbid  state  had  been  induced  where  men  are  seen 
treading  the  ground  which  borders  on  insanity, 
where  irrational  suggestions  and  blind  impulses 
threaten  the  supremacy  of  the  will.  But  this  frank 
avowal  of  the  evils  accompanying  an  excitement 
which  was  largely  physical  in  its  nature  should 
not  be  abused  to  the  spiritual  discredit  of  the 
movement.  Society  was  in  the  throes  of  a  new 
birth.  A  step  forward  was  to  be  taken  which  was 
to  change  the  face  of  the  social  as  well  as  the  re- 
ligious order.  In  such  moments  abnormal  ele- 
ments are  sure  to  be  found,  mingling  with,  even 
appearing  to  grow  out  of,  what  is  sound  and  true. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  Edwards'  extraordinary 
personality,  combined  with  his  "  terrific  "  preach- 
ing, should  be  held  responsible  in  some  measure 
for  these  morbid  tendencies.  But  to  attribute 
them  to  this  cause  alone  is  to  lose  the  deeper  sig- 
nificance of  the  fact,  that  similar  phenomena  have 
always  attended  those  epochs  when  humanity  is 
seen  striving  in  some  unusual  way  to  realize  the 
spiritual  as  distinct  from  and  above  the  natural. 
Indeed,  as  we  think  of  the  sources  from  which  great 
princi23les  have  so  often  taken  their  rise,  or  recall 
the  disfigurements  connected  with  revolutions  that 
have  advanced  the  truth,  we  are  tempted  to  repeat 
the  cry.  Can  any  good  come  out  of  Nazareth? 
But  in  all  this  we  are  anticipating  a  controversy 
which  the  opponents  of  the  revival  waged  against 
its  friends  and  leaders. 


II. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  —  DISTINGUISHING  MARKS 
OF   A   WORK   OF   THE    SPIRIT   OF   GOD. 

From  the  first,  Edwards  had  regarded  the  re- 
vival at  Northampton  as  the  forerunner  of  some 
greater  work.  What  had  gone  on  under  his  vision 
seemed  so  exceptional  in  its  character  as  to  point 
toward  the  accomplishment  of  some  vast  organic 
change.  If  the  movement  had  seemed  to  decline, 
it  was  in  appearance  only.  In  its  aj)parent  sub- 
sidence it  was  like  a  fire  that  was  slumbering.  At 
last  the  smoiddering  embers  broke  forth  in  a  great 
conflagration. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  at  leng-th  what 
has  received  the  name  of  the  Great  Awakenino;. 
The  account  given  of  the  first  revival  at  Northamp- 
ton will  suffice  to  show  its  substantial  character  in 
the  one  hundred  and  fifty  towns  or  more  into  which 
it  extended.  Edwards  has  left  a  brief  account  of 
its  rise  in  his  own  parish  in  a  letter  to  a  Boston 
correspondent.^  In  some  respects  it  differed  from 
the  first  movement,  more  particularly  in  the  matter 
of  "  bodily  effects,"  such  as  faintings,  outcries,  and 
convulsions,  which  now  became  a  common  occur- 

1  Cf .  Dwight,  Life  of  Edwards,  pp.  160,  ff.  For  a  description 
of  the  movement  as  a  whole,  ef .  Tracy,  The  Great  Awakening  ;  a 
History  of  the  Revival  of  Religion  in  the  time  of  Edwards  and 
Whitejieldj  Boston,  1842,  —  a  work  of  great  interest  and  value. 


1G2  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

rence,  disturbing  the  order  of  public  worship.  Tlie 
irrational  purpose  which  aimed  to  bring  young 
children  under  the  influence  of  religious  excite- 
ment  was  also  more  pronomiced,  nor  does  Edwards 
feel  its  incongruity.  But  what  is  chiefly  impor- 
tant to  note  is,  that  the  magnitude  of  the  event  was 
an  adequate  setting  for  the  greatness  of  mind  and 
character  which  Edwards  now  reveals.  He  stands 
forth  as  the  originator,  the  director,  the  champion, 
of  the  movement.  As  such  he  was  recoo-nized  at 
home  and  abroad.  The  deep  response  of  religious 
sentiment  originally  evoked  by  his  preaching  called 
forth  all  his  powers  for  its  direction  or  defence. 
To  the  works  which  he  now  put  forth  in  rapid  suc- 
cession we  must  turn  our  attention.  They  consti- 
tute the  most  important  literature  of  the  revival. 
Most  of  them  were  rej^ublished  in  Scotland  or 
England.  They  have  an  air  as  if  of  supreme  mas- 
tery of  the  situation.  The  reply  to  the  enemies  or 
critics  of  the  movement  is  marked  by  the  eloquence 
springing  from  the  consciousness  of  a  great  cause. 
While  his  style  is  never  free  from  cmnbrous  sen- 
tences and  awkward  involutions,  there  are  passages 
continually  occurring  which  remind  one  of  the 
masters  of  modern  English. 

The  first  in  this  series  of  apologetic  treatises  is 
entitled  The  Distinguishing  Marks  of  a  Work  of 
the  Spirit  of  God.  It  was  an  expanded  sermon, 
which  had  been  delivered  in  1741  at  New  Haven, 
from  the  text,  "  Beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit ; 
but  try  the  spirits  whether  they  are  of  God ;  be- 


ANALOGY   OF  M0NA8TICISM.  163 

cause  many  false  prophets  are  gone  out  into  the 
world."  In  this  treatise  Edwards  appears  as  com- 
mitting himself  unreservedly  to  the  divine  origin 
and  the  divine  character  of  the  revival.  It  is  true 
that  so  early  as  1741  the  worst  features  of  the 
movement  had  not  been  developed.  But  evil  ten- 
dencies were  at  work,  which  those  saw  most  clearly 
who  had  no  sjTnpathy  with  the  movement,  or  who 
disowned  the  idea  that  it  was  divine.  If  it  seems 
to  any  like  a  derogation  from  the  greatness  of  Ed- 
wards that  he  should  have  been  entirely  carried 
away  by  a  movement  which  involved  so  many  ir- 
rational if  not  superstitious  elements,  wherev  the 
puerile,  the  extravagant,  and  the  false  were  so 
largely  mingled  with  what  was  true,  yet  in  this 
respect  he  is  not  an  exception,  but  illustrates  di- 
rectly the  rule  in  accordance  ^\^th  which  men  have 
risen  to  greatness  in  the  church.  "  It  is  the  hig-her 
order  of  minds,"  as  a  recent  m^iter  has  remarked, 
"  those  endowed  with  the  fire  and  sensibility  of 
genius,  whom  religion  seizes  with  an  attractive 
force,  and  carries  away  with  a  bewildering  enthu- 
siasm." So  also  in  the  ancient  church,  the  most 
eminent  of  the  fathers,  Athanasius  and  Basil, 
Jerome  and  Augustine,  had  been  identified  with 
the  evils  and  the  superstitions  of  monasticism,  as 
it  swept  like  a  wave  over  the  church  of  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries.  Those  who  were  in  opposition 
m  both  cases  were  men  of  an  inferior  stamp,  ex- 
cept in  a  certain  mediocrity  of  common  sense. 
But  it  will  appear  before  we  close  our  study  of  the 


164  THE    GREAT  AWAKENING. 

movement  tliat  Edwards  was  also  going  through 
a  process  of  growth,  of  intellectual  and  sj^iritual 
purification,  so  that  when  the  movement  was  over 
he  is  not  standing  exactly  where  he  stood  when  it 
began. 

In  his  treatise  on  the  Distinguishing  Marks  by 
which  a  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  to  be  known 
or  tested,  Edwards  dwells  at  first  in  a  general  way 
on  the  principles  at  issue  in  any  movement  which 
claims  to  be  of  God.  He  meets  in  a  negative 
fashion  the  various  objections  which  have  been  or 
may  be  urged.  Nothing,  he  argues,  can  be  con- 
tended against  any  religious  movement  from  the 
fact  that  it  is  unusual  or  extraordinary.  God  is 
spoken  of  in  Scripture  as  doing  a  strange  work. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  also,  from  prophecies  in 
the  Bible,  that  His  greatest,  most  extraordinary 
work  would  take  place  in  the  latter  ages  of  the 
world.  Nor  can  any  one  conclude  anything  against 
such  a  work  from  "  bodily  effects,"  such  as  tears, 
groans,  outcries,  convulsions,  or  the  failure  of 
strength.  Indeed  it  is  only  natural,  in  view  of  the 
close  relation  of  body  and  spirit,  that  such  things 
should  be.  So  also  in  Scripture  the  jailer  fell 
down  before  Paul  and  Silas  in  distress  and  trem- 
bling. The  Psalmist  exclaimed,  under  convictions 
of  conscience  and  a  sense  of  the  guilt  of  sin : 
"  When  I  kept  silence  my  bones  waxed  old  through 
my  roaring  all  the  day  long ;  for  day  and  night 
Thy  hand  was  heavy  on  me."  The  disciples  in  the 
storm  on  the  lake  cried  out  for  fear.     The  spouse 


THE  IMAGINATION  IN  RELIGION.  165 

in  the  Canticles  is  overpowered  with  the  love  o£ 
Christ,  and  sj)eaks  of  herself  as  sick  with  love. 
Again,  it  is  no  argument  against  the  work  that  it 
occasions  a  great  deal  of  noise  about  religion.  So 
it  was  also  in  the  apostles'  days,  when  they  were 
charged  with  turning  the  world  upside  down.  The 
vivid  picturings  of  the  imagination,  which  many 
disliked,  Edwards  does  not  find  unreasonable. 
"  Such  is  our  nature  that  we  cannot  think  of 
things  in\'isible  without  a  degree  of  imagination." 
He  is  even  inclined  to  maintain  a  principle  which 
may  become  the  ground  of  the  crudest  anthropo- 
morphism,—  the  necessity  of  an  image  in  the  mind 
in  order  to  realize  the  spiritual  and  invisible.  If 
the  imagination  is  the  gift  of  God,  he  thinks  it 
may  be  expected  that  He  will  make  use  of  it  ^or 
divine  purposes,  especially  in  those  who  are  igno- 
rant and  must  be  dealt  with  as  babes.  It  is  not 
strange  or  unnatural  that  those  upon  whom  the 
Spirit  of  God  is  working  should  go  into  ecstasy 
and  have  visions,  as  though  they  were  rapt  up  into 
heaven  and  saw  glorious  sights.  Such  instances 
he  himseK  has  known.  Some  may  interpret  them 
wrongly,  or  lay  too  much  weight  upon  them,  but 
nevertheless  they  may  be  wrought  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  however  indirect  or  incidental  His  operation. 
And  again,  if  some  thought  lightly  of  the  revival 
because  it  seemed  to  be  propagated  by  the  conta- 
gion of  example,  Edwards  contends  that  the  word 
of  God  may  operate  through  example  and  make  it 
effectual.     A  work  may  be  from  God  also,  and  yet 


166  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

its  subjects  may  be  guilty  of  great  imprudences 
and  irregularities.  Errors  in  judgment  and  delu- 
sions of  Satan  may  be  intermixed  with  what  is 
divine.  It  was  so  also  in  the  apostles'  days,  as  in 
the  church  atX'orinth.  And  even  if  some  who 
seem  to  have  been  wrought  upon  fall  away  into 
gross  errors  or  scandalous  practices,  this  is  no  ar- 
gument that  a  work  is  not  of  God.  Some  of  the 
opponents  of  the  revival  had  attributed  the  move- 
ment to  the  preaching  of  the  terrors  of  law  and  of 
endless  punishment.  This  also  Edwards  defends 
as  a  legitimate  method,  indeed  the  only  honorable 
method,  of  procedure.  If  these  things  were  true, 
they  could  not  be  preached  too  strongly. 

As  to  the  positive  features  of  a  work  of  God, 
they  are  such  as  these :  the  awakening  of  the  con- 
science to  a  sense  of  sin  and  need  of  a  Saviour ; 
the  confirmation  of  men  in  the  belief  in  Jesus  as 
the  Son  of  God ;  the  increased  importance  attached 
to  the  truths  of  the  Bible,  and  its  more  fr^uent 
use.  To  turn  men  from  darkness  to  light,  to  im- 
part a  spirit  of  divine  love  or  Christian  humilia- 
tion, —  these  are  things  which  the  evil  spirit  would 
not  do,  nor  could  he  if  he  would.  " 

But  the  interest  of  this  treatise  does  not  lie  in 
this  general  consideration  of  the  subject.  What- 
ever Edwards  ^vl'ote  had  always  some  very  defuiite 
bearing,  some  concrete  relation  to  the  issues  of  the 
time.  It  is  when  we  come  to  the  last  section  of 
his  book,  wliich  is  headed  "  Practical  Inferences," 
that  we  touch  the  vital  questions  to  which  the  revi- 


BODILY  EFFECTS.  167 

val  had  given  birth.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
"  bodily  effects,"  the  outcries,  faintings,  and  convul- 
sions, which  caused  many  sensible  men  to  look 
upon  the  movement  as  of  purely  human  origin,  or 
as  having  its  rise  in  diseased  or  abnormal  condi- 
tions of  mind  or  body.  Upon  this  point  Edwards' 
voice  has  no  uncertain  sound.  He  appeals  to  his 
large  experience  as  the  ground  of  his  conviction 
that  the  "  bodily  effects  "  are  wrought  incidentally 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  are  evidence  of  His  un- 
usual presence  and  power  in  the  congregation.  He 
has  no  desire  to  check  this  feature  of  the  revival. 
It  is  no  mark  of  confusion,--  but  rather  the  sign  of 
a  higher  order  which  God  is  evolving.  These  un- 
common appearances  have  been  manifested  by 
those  who  have  been  in  great  distress  from  an  ap- 
prehension of  their  sin  and  misery ;  or  else  by 
those  who  have  been  overcome  with  a  sweet  sense 
of  the  greatness,  wonderfidness,  and  excellency  of 
divine  things.  In  very  few  cases  has  there  been 
any  appearance  of  feigning  or  affecting  such  man- 
ifestations, and  in  very  many  cases  it  woidd  have 
been  utterly  impossible  to  suppress  them. 

"  Not  but  that  I  think  the  persons  thus  extraordinarily 
moved  should  endeavor  to  refrain  from  such  outward 
manifestations,  what  they  well  can,  and  should  refrain 
to  their  utmost  at  the  time  of  their  solemn  worship.  But 
if  God  is  pleased  to  convince  the  consciences  of  persons, 
so  that  they  cannot  avoid  great  outward  manifestations, 
even  to  interrupting  and  breaking  off  those  public  means 
they  were  attending,  I  do  not  think  this  is  confusion  or 


168  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

an  unhappy  interruption,  any  more  than  if  a  company 
should  meet  on  the  field  to  pray  for  rain  and  should  be 
broken  off  from  their  exercise  by  a  plentiful  shower. 
Would  to  God  that  all  the  public  assemblies  in  the  land 
were  broken  off  from  their  public  exercises  with  such 
confusion  as  this  the  next  Sabbath  day !  We  need  not  be 
sorry  for  breaking  the  order  of  means  by  obtaining  the 
end  to  which  that  order  is  directed.  He  who  is  going  to 
fetch  a  treasure  need  not  be  sorry  that  he  is  stopped  by 
meeting  the  treasure  in  the  midst  of  his  journey." 

Edwards  gives  an  intimation,  however,  in  pass- 
ing, to  the  effect  that  he  does  not  suppose  that  the 
degree  of  the  Spirit's  influence  is  to  be  determined 
by  the  degree  of  effect  on  men's  bodies ;  or  that 
those  are  always  the  best  experiences  which  show 
tbe  greatest  influence  on  the  body.  The  caution 
was  needed,  but  he  does  not  enlarge  ujion  it.  He 
is  at  present  preoccupied  with  another  purj)ose,  — 
to  affirm  strongly  that  this  work  is  of  God,  despite 
all  its  extravagances ;  or  else  we  may  as  well  throw 
by  our  Bibles  and  give  up  revealed  religion  alto- 
gether. The  imprudences,  irregidarities,  and  the 
mixture  of  delusion  are  things  to  be  expected  and 
taken  for  granted.  "  As  in  the  first  creation,  feod 
did  not  make  a  complete  world  at  once,  but  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  imperfection,  darkness,  and 
mixture  of  chaos  and  confusion,  after  God  first 
said,  '  Let  there  be  light,'  before  the  whole  stood 
forth  in  perfect  form."  So  in  the  deliverance  of 
the  chosen  people  from  Egypt  the  false  wonders 
were  for  a  time  mixed  up  mth  the  true.     When 


INTERMINGLING   OF  EVIL    WITH  GOOD.       169 

the  sons  of  God  came  to  present  themselves  before 
the  Lord,  Satan  came  also  among  them.  When 
daylight  first  appears  after  a  night  of  darkness,  we 
must  expect  to  have  darkness  mixed  with  light  for 
a  while  before  the  perfect  day  and  the  sun  in  his 
streno'th.  The  fruits  of  the  earth  are  oreen  before 
they  are  ripe,  and  come  to  their  perfection  grad- 
ually ;  and  so,  Christ  tells  us,  is  the  kingdom  of 
God.  The  errors  that  have  attended  the  work  are 
the  less  to  be  wondered  at  because  it  is  mainly 
young  persons  who  have  been  the  subjects  of  the 
work.  And  further,  the  situation  has  been  so  ex- 
traordinary that  even  ministers  have  not  always 
known  how  to  conduct  themselves.  But,  on  the 
whole,  judging  from  his  own  experience  at  North- 
ampton, there  has  been  less  of  enthusiastic  wild- 
ness  and  extravagance  than  in  the  earlier  revival  of 
1735.  He  closes  his  book  Avith  a  pathetic  charge 
to  those  who  are  indifferent  to  the  work,  and  then 
offers  some  suggestions  to  its  friends. 

To  the  first  of  these  classes  he  speaks  with  that 
unique  power  of  direct  appeal  wliich  made  him  the 
foremost  preacher  of  his  day.  So  intense  is  his 
conviction  that  Jehovah  has  bowed  the  heavens 
and  come  down,  and  appeared  wonderfidly  in  the 
land,  that  those  opposed  to  him  must  have  almost 
wanted  to  feel,  despite  their  reason,  that  they  were 
in  the  wrong.  Those  silent  ministers  who  stood  by, 
waiting  to  see  what  would  come  out  of  the  move- 
ment, he  accused  of  standing  in  the  way  of  God. 
He  assures  those  Who  are  offended  by  stumbling- 


170  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

blocks,  that  these  rocks  of  offence  are  likely  to  in- 
crease rather  than  diminish ;  and  Blessed  is  he 
ivhosoever  is  not  offended  in  me.  He  is  afraid 
that  these  prudent  persons,  who  stand  at  a  distance 
and  look  on,  will  miss  the  most  precious  opportu- 
nity of  obtaining  light  and  grace  which  God  ever 
gave  in  New  England.  He  warns  those  who  speak 
contemptuously  of  these  things  to  beware  lest  they 
commit  the  unpardonable  sin.  But  whether  they 
resist  or  not,  God  will  have  His  way  in  the  long  run, 
and  make  all  men  know  that  the  great  Jehovah 
has  actually  been  in  New  England. 

To  the  friends  of  the  wo7'h  he  finally  appeals, 
urging  them  to  avoid  as  far  as  possible  all  occasion 
of  reproach.  He  thinks  that  some  of  them  have 
erred  in  giving  too  much  heed  to  impulses  and 
strong  impressions  on  their  minds,  as  if  they  were 
signs  from  heaven  revealing  to  them  the  will  of 
God.  The  disposition  to  attach  value  to  these  im- 
pulses and  impressions  he  attributes  in  some  meas- 
ure to  a  wrong  conception  wliich  many  entertain, 
that  in  the  approaching  happy  days  of  the  church 
the  extraordinary  gifts  of  the  apostolic  age  will 
be  restored.  While  Edwards  admitted  and  justi- 
fied the  "  bodily  effects,"  he  stood  like  a  rock  in 
resisting  this  tendency,  which  many  exhibited,  to 
concede  value  or  reality  to  impidses  and  impres- 
sions. Whitefield,  it  is  well  known,  magnified  the 
importance  of  these  impulses ;  he  sought  for  them 
in  prayer,  and  professed  to  be  guided  by  them. 
When  he  visited  Northampton  in  1740,  Edwards 


IMPULSES  AND   IMPRESSIONS.  171 

took  occasion,  both  in  private  and  in  company  with 
others,  to  remonstrate  with  him  for  giving  too  much 
heed  to  these  things.  It  was  Edwards'  opinion 
that  Whitefield,  though  he  received  his  remon- 
strance kindly,  did  not  from  that  time  regard  him 
as  an  intimate  and  confidential  friend,  as  he  might 
otherwise  have  done.^ 

It  may  seem  like  an  inconsistency  in  Edwards 
to  have  admitted  the  "  bodily  effects  "  while  deny- 
ing the  validity  of  impulses.  But  there  is  some- 
thing also  to  be  said  in  his  behalf.  The  subject 
will  be  resumed  in  a  later  chapter,  when  Edwards' 
attitude  will  appear  more  clearly.  But  in  regard 
to  impressions  on  the  mind  which  revealed  the  will 
of  God,  his  reasoning  was  clear  and  powerful. 
Not  only  so,  but  his  eloquence  in  resisting  them 
rises  to  its  gTeatest  height.  AU  that  was  most 
profound  and  distinctive  in  his  theology  lay  be- 
neath his  repugnance  to  what  seemed  to  him  as  un- 
spiritual  as  it  was  irrational.  The  extraordinary 
gifts  of  the  Spirit,  such  as  marked  the  apostolic 

1  Cf.  Dwight,  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  147.  The  practice  of  the 
brothers  Charles  and  John  Wesley  in  this  respect  differed  from 
that  of  Whitefield.  But  they  differed  also  from  each  other  in  re- 
gard to  "  bodily  eifeets."  John  Wesley  approved  them.  It  is 
said  that  Charles,  however,  on  one  occasion  notified  his  cong-rega- 
tion  that  any  one  who  was  convulsed  should  be  carried  out,  and 
this  notice  insured  perfect  quiet.  But  both  Charles  and  John 
were  agreed  in  accepting  the  Moravian  method  of  solving  doubts 
as  to  some  course  of  action  by  opening  the  Bible  at  hazard  and 
regarding  the  passage  on  which  the  eye  first  alighted  as  a  revela- 
tion of  God's  will  in  the  matter.  Cf.  Wedgwood,  Life  of  Wes- 
ley, p.  193 ;  Southey,  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  216. 


172  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

age,  even  the  inspiration  of  propliets  and  evange- 
lists, these  are  of  a  different  nature  from,  as  well  as 
inferior  to,  those  gracious  influences  of  the  Spirit 
which  mark  the  Christian  calling.     "  God  commu- 
nicates His  own  nature  to  the  soul,  in  sa\^ng  grace 
in  the  heart,  more  than  in  all  miraculous  gifts." 
Salvation  is  promised  to  the  possession  of  divine 
grace,  but  not  of  inspiration.     A  man  may  have 
these  extraordinary  gifts  and  yet  be  abominable  to 
God.    Spiritual  life  in  the  soul  is  given  by  God  only 
to  his  favorites  and  dear  children,  while  inspiration 
may  be  thrown  out,  as  it  were,  to  dogs  and  swine, 
—  a  Balaam,  Said,  and  Judas.    Many  wicked  men 
at  the  day  of  judgment  will  plead  that  they  have 
proj)hesied,  and  cast  out  devils,  and  done  many 
wonderful   works.       ''  The   greatest    privilege  of 
prophets  and  apostles  was  not  their  being  inspired 
and  working  miracles,  but  their  eminent  holiness. 
The  grace  that  was  in  their  hearts  was  a  thousand 
times  more  their  dignity  and  honor  than  their  mi- 
raculous gifts.  .  .  .  The  apostle  Paul  abounded  in 
visions,  revelations,  and  miraculous  gifts,  above  aU 
the  apostles  ;  but  yet  he  esteems  all  things  but  loss 
for  the  excellency  of  the  spiritual  knowledge   of 
Christ.  .  .  .  To   have    grace    in   the   heart   is    a 
higher  privilege  than  the    blessed  virgin   lierseK 
had  in  having  the  body  of  the  second  person  in 
the  Trinity  conceived  in  her  womb  by  the  power 
of  the  Highest  overshadomng  her.     '  And  it  came 
to  pass,  as  He  spake  these  things,  a  certain  woman 
of  the  company  lift  up  her  voice  and  said  unto 


MIRACLES  AND   INSPIRATION.  173 

Him,  Blessed  is  the  womb  that  bare  Thee,  and  the 
2)aps  which  Thou  hast  sucked  !  But  He  said,  Yea, 
rather  blessed  are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God 
and  keep  it.' "  It  is  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  or  divine  charity  in  the  heart,  which  is  the 
greatest  privilege  and  glory  of  the  highest  arch- 
angel in  heaven  ;  this  is  the  thing  by  which  the 
creature  has  fellowship  with  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  and  becomes  j^artaker  of  the  divine  nature  in 
its  beauty  and  happiness. 

"  The  glory  of  the  approaching  happy  state  of  the 
church  does  not  at  all  require  these  extraordinary  gifts. 
As  that  state  of  the  church  will  be  the  nearest  of  any 
to  its  perfect  state  in  heaven,  so  I  believe  it  will  be  like 
it  in  this,  that  all  extraordinary  gifts  shall  have  ceased 
and  vanished  away.  .  .  .  The  apostle  speaks  of  these 
gifts  of  inspiration  as  childish  things  in  comparison  of 
the  influence  of  the  Spirit  in  divine  love  ;  things  given 
to  the  church  only  to  support  it  in  its  minority,  .  .  . 
which  should  vanish  away  when  the  church  came  to  a 
state  of  manhood.  Therefore  I  do  not  exjDect  a  restora- 
tion of  these  miraculous  gifts  in  the  approaching  glo- 
rious times  of  the  church,  nor  do  I  desire  it.  It  af>pears 
to  me  that  it  would  add  nothing  to  the  glory  of  those 
times,  but  rather  diminish  from  it.  For  my  part,  I  had 
rather  enjoy  the  sweet  influences  of  the  Spirit,  showing 
Christ's  spiritual,  divine  beauty,  infinite  grace,  and  dy- 
ing love,  drawing  forth  the  holy  exercises  of  faith,  divine 
love,  sweet  complacence,  and  humble  joy  in  God  one 
quarter  of  aii:  hour,  than  to  have  prophetical  visions  and 
revelations  the  whole  year."  ^ 

^  Distinguishing  Marks,  etc.,  vol.  i.  pp.  556,  558. 


174  THE    GREAT  AWAKENING. 

In  the  light  of  these  words,  what  Edwards 
thought  about  the  "  bodily  affections "  grows 
clearer.  While  he  held  that  such  things  were 
incidental  merely  to  the  communication  of  the 
divine  grace,  yet  it  may  be  that  he  clung  to  them 
the  more  strongly  in  proportion  as  his  idealism 
threatened  to  snap  the  bond  which  connects  the 
spiritual  with  its  physical  embodiment.  But  it  is 
in  these  passages  above  quoted  that  we  have  his 
deepest  conviction,  his  most  characteristic  thought. 
And  these  forcible  and  beautiful  utterances,  assert- 
ing the  superiority  of  the  spiritual  as  if  ineffably 
higher  than  all  mechanical  gifts  or  outward  signs 
or  manifestations  of  power,  have  unportant  and 
far-reaching  relations.  They  may  be  taken  as 
marking  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  religious  prog- 
ress. Their  spirit  has  passed  into  the  theology 
of  New  England,  forming,  as  it  were,  a  bulwark 
against  mediaeval  religion  with  its  tendency  to 
deify  the  material  and  the  outward,  or  to  sanction 
the  worship  of  the  body  rather  than  the  spirit  of 
Christ.  They  have  become  the  charter  of  relig- 
ious idealism  as  contrasted  with  religious  material- 
ism. They  stand  out  in  sharp  contrast  also  with 
reactionary  religious  movements  in  our  own  day, 
notably  that  led  by  Edward  Irving,  whose  object 
was  to  restore  to  the  modern  church  the  gifts  of 
the  apostolic  age,  such  as  prophesyings,  speaking 
with  tongues,  or  miraculous  cures  of  disease,  as  if 
these  were  the  highest  reaches  of  faith,  the  evi- 
dences most  needed  or  desired  in  order  to  attest 
the  vitality  and  certitude  of  Christian  belief. 


IMPORTANCE    OF  HUMAN  LEARNING.         175 

One  inference  from  his  attitude  on  tliis  subject 
Edwards  immediately  proceeded  to  draw.  Itine- 
rant preachers  were  then  beginning  to  travel  about 
the  country,  proclaiming  that  human  learning  was 
not  necessary  to  the  work  of  the  ministry.  The 
phrase,  "  lowly  preaching,"  was  coming  into  vogue 
as  compared  with  the  ministrations  of  an  educated 
clergy.  Against  the  itinerants,  who  decried  theo- 
logical culture  and  depended  upon  inspiration, 
Edwards  urged  his  hearers  not  to  despise  human 
learning.  But  he  does  not  stop  to  argue  the  point. 
It  was  too  manifest  to  be  denied,  that  God  might 
make  great  use  of  human  learning.  And  if  so, 
then  study,  the  means  by  which  it  was  to  be 
acquired,  should  not  be  neglected.  "  Though  hav- 
ing the  heart  full  of  the  powerful  influences  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  may  at  some  times  enable  per- 
sons to  speak  profitably,  yet  this  will  not  warrant 
us  to  cast  ourselves  down  from  the  pinnacle  of  the 
temple,  depending  upon  it  that  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  will  bear  us  up,  and  keep  us  from  dashing 
our  foot  against  a  stone,  when  there  is  another 
way  to  go  down,  though  it  be  not  so  quick."  He 
also  urged  that  method  in  sermons  should  not  be 
neglected,  since  it  tends  greatly  to  help  the  un- 
derstanding and  memory.  And  another  thing  he 
would  beg  the  dear  children  of  God  more  fully  to 
consider  is,  how  far  and  upon  what  grounds  they 
are  warranted  b}''  Scripture  in  passing  judgment 
upon  other  professing  Christians  as  hy])ocrites, 
and  ignorant  of   real  religion.     It  is  God  alone 


176  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

who  knowetli  tlie  hearts  of  the  children  of  men. 
To  his  own  master  every  man  standeth  or  falleth. 
Judge  nothing  before  the  time,  until  the  Lord 
Cometh.  Let  tares  and  wheat  grow  together  till 
the  harvest.  They  greatly  err  who  take  upon 
themselves  to  determine  who  are  sincere  and  who 
are  not.  His  own  experience  has  taught  him  that 
the  heart  of  man  is  more  unsearchable  than  he 
had  once  supposed.  "I  am  less  charitable  and 
less  uncharitable  than  once  I  was.  I  find  more 
things  in  wicked  men  that  may  counterfeit  and 
make  a  fair  show  of  piety ;  and  more  ways  that 
the  remaining  corruption  of  the  godly  may  make 
them  appear  like  carnal  men  than  once  I  knew 
of."  And  fuially  he  admits  that  it  would  be 
wise  to  consider  that  excellent  rule  of  prudence 
which  Christ  has  left  us,  not  to  i^ut  a  piece  of  neio 
cloth  into  cm  old  garment.  In  former  years,  he 
thinks  there  was  too  great  confinement  within  one 
stated  method  and  form  of  procedure,  which  had  a 
tendency  to  cause  religion  to  degenerate  into  for- 
mality. And  now  whatever  has  the  appearance  of 
great  innovation  may  shock  and  surprise  the  minds 
of  people,  setting  them  to  talking  and  disputing, 
perplexing  many  with  doubts '  and  scruples,  and 
so  hinder  the  progress  of  religion.  That  which  is 
much  beside  the  common  practice,  unless  it  be  a 
thing  in  its  own  nature  of  considerable  importance, 
had  better  be  avoided.  Let  them  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  St.  Paul,  who  made  it  a  rule  to  become 
all  things  to  all  men,  that  he  might  by  all  means 
save  some. 


m. 


EVILS    AND   ABUSES    OF    THE    GREAT    AWAKENING. 
—  "  THOUGHTS    ON   THE   REVIVAL." 

The  Distinguishing  Marks  had  been  written  in 
1741,  before  the  Awakening  had  reached  its  great- 
est headway  as  a  movement,  before  it  had  engen- 
dered the  abuses  which  were  destropng  not  only 
the  peace,  but  threatened  the  very  life,  of  the  New 
England  churches.  In  1742  it  became  evident 
that  something  must  be  done  to  guide  and  control 
the  movement  if  it  were  not  to  issue  in  religious 
anarchy.  In  ecclesiastical  parlance,  it  was  "an 
unhappy  time  "  for  the  churches  during  the  years 
from  1742  to  1745.  So  grievous  were  the  evils 
that  some  have  thought  the  subsequent  slumber  of 
the  American  churches  for  nearly  seventy  years 
may  have  been  owing  to  the  reaction  which  they 
produced.  These  evils  sprang  from  the  extrava- 
gant assertion  or  misapplication  of  the  principle 
for  wliich  Edwards  stood  as  the  foremost  champion. 
The  doctrine  of  the  immediate  contact  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  with  the  hmnan  heart — a  principle  in  whose 
defence  he  never  wavered  —  was  the  source,  or  to 
speak  more  correctly  the  occasion,  from  whence 
came  the  confusion,  the  di\dsions  and  separations, 
the  superstitions,  which  disfigaired  a  movement 
which  he  believed  to  be  di\^ne.  What  Luther  had 
feared,  when  he  first  heard  of  the  teachings  of  the 


*^ 


178  THE   GREAT  A  WAKENING. 

Zwickau  prophets,  had  actually  come  to  pass  in  the 
New  England  churches.  What  the  early  Puritans 
themselves  had  dreaded  as  the  necessary  outcome 
of  Quaker  preaching  was  now  resulting  from  the 
influential  utterance  of  similar  views  by  one  the 
most  honored  in  their  own  ranks. 

It  is  better  not  to  obscure  the  issue  by  seeking 
some  other  cause  for  the  confusion.  Edwards 
himself  recognized  that  this  principle  of  the  im- 
mediate divine  influence  not  onl^^ave  birth  to  the 
disorder,  but  was  likely  to  result  in  still  greater 
disorder  before  the  work  was  over.  But,  unlike 
Luther,  Edwards  refused  to  abandon  the  princi- 
ple, though  he  was  becoming  keenly  alive  to  the 
mischief  which  its  misaipjH'ehension  was  working. 
In  the  presence  of  the  Zwickau  prophets,  Luther 
denied  the  truth  of  the  immediacy  of  the  divine 
action,  falling  back  upon  the  Word  and  the  Sacra- 
ments as  the  external  channels  of  the  divine  com- 
munication. Edwards  adhered  to  his  conviction, 
and  labored  to  purify  it  from  abuse  and  misinter- 
pretation. 

The  history  of  these  years,  from  1742  to  1745, 
may  be  studied  elsewhere.^  It  is  only  as  Edwards 
is  concerned  that  we  propose  to  follow  it.  But  a 
general  summary  of  the  situation  may  be  given,  in 
order  to  a  clearer  appreciation  of  his  work  as  a 
religiSjjus  teacher  and  reformer.  One  of  the  most 
embarrassing  features  of  the  revival,  with  which 
the  clergy  were  called  to  deal,  was  the  disturbances 
^  Cf .  Tracy,  Great  Awakening,  pp.  286,  ff. 


EVILS    OF  THE  REVIVAL.  179 

in  the  congi^egations  on  Sunday  caused  by  the 
"  bodily  effects,"  —  the  faintings  and  fallings,  the 
weeping  and  shouting,  the  trances,  the  convulsions. 
This  was  bad  enough.  But  a  worse  effect  followed 
from  the  popular  idea  that  these  things  were  the 
best  evidence  of  the  Spirit's  presence  and  power. 
Religious  exj^eriences  came  to  be  tested  by  the 
"  bodily  effects."  There  was  a  rivalry  among  the 
people  as  to  who  shoidd  display  the  most  striking 
manifestations.  Even  at  Northampton,  among  a 
people  of  whom  Edwards  was  proud  as  having  had 
an  excellent  training  under  Mr.  Stoddard  in  spirit- 
ual things,  and  who  were  noted>tfor  their  large  and 
varied  experiences,  as  well  as  by  their  wisdom  and 
sobriety,  even  here  the  delusion  extended.  People 
came  from  abroad  who  had  seen*displays  of  power 
to  which  Northampton  had  hitherto  been  a  stran- 
ger ;  and  the  work,  which  had  before  been  compar- 
atively pure,  now  degenerated  into  this  unspiritual 
rivalry.  The  revival  had  issued  everywhere  in  a 
sharp  distinction  between  the  converted  and  the 
unconverted.  Those  who  believed  themselves  con- 
verted were  not  only  puffed  up  with  pride,  but 
undertook  to  judge  the  condition  of  others  in  the 
light  of  their  own  experience.  This  practice  was 
most  fruitful  in  bitter  results.  The  converted  drew 
off  from  the  unconverted,  avoiding  those  who  were 
regarded  as  still  in  darkness,  and  addressing  each 
other  as  brother  or  sister.  Itinerant  lay  preach- 
ers, as  well  as  itinerants  among  the  clergy,  now 
appeared   on   the   scene   to  add   to  the  disorder. 


180  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

They  were  uneducated  in  many  instances,  trusting 
to  impulses  and  impressions,  wliicli  they  held  to  be 
the  dit-ect  result  of  the  voice  of  the  Spirit  within 
them ;  they  appealed  to  the  feelings  of  those  al- 
ready excited  by  irrational  and  noisy  exhorting  ; 
and,  worst  of  all,  they  undertook  to  pronounce 
upon  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  pastors  of  the 
various  churches  in  the  towns  which  they  visited. 
It  is  mainly  to  Whitefield  that  this  principle  of 
c6nfusion  must  be  attributed.  He  had  allowed 
himseK  to  intrude  into  parishes,  to  condemn  their 
ministers  as  unconverted,  and  had  in  many  cases 
advised  the  people  to  separate  from  their  ministry. 
It  is  only  proper  to  add  that  Whitefield  saw  his 
errors  and  acknowledged  them,  but  not  before  he 
had  been  the  author  of  a  great  mischief.  The  re- 
port was  bruited  about  that  he  intended  to  bring 
over  young  men  from  England  to  take  the  place  of 
unconverted  ministers.^     Separatist  congregations 

^  This  report  gave  rise  to  a  prolonged  personal  controversy  be- 
tween Edwards  and  Rev.  Mr.  Clap,  rector  of  Yale  College.  It 
seems  that  Whitefield  had  told  Edwards  that  he  intended  to  bring 
over  from  England  into  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  a  number 
of  young  men  to  be  ordained  by  the  two  Mr.  Tennents.  This  was 
in  1740.  Some  time  afterwards,  when  the  excitement  over  White- 
field's  course  in  New  England  was  at  its  height,  Edwards  hap- 
pened to  be  riding  on  horseback  to  Boston  in  company  with 
Rector  Clap,  to  whom  he  imparted  this  information  of  White- 
field's  former  intention  in  regard  to  New  Jersey,  and  added, 
perhaps  incautiously,  that  he  supposed  him  to  have  a  similar 
intention  in  regard  to  New  England.  On  the  strength  of  this 
conversation,  Rector  Clap  declared  publicly,  that  Edwards  had 
informed  him  that  Wliitefield  had  told  Edwards  that  he  intended 
to  bring  over  young  men  from  England,  etc.,  to  supply  the  places 


OPPOSITION   TO  THE  REVIVAL.  181 

were  springing  up  all  over  New  England,  based 
upon'  the  ancient  Montanist  principle  that  it  was 
the,  will  of  God  to  have  a  pure  church,  in  whiclr* 
the  converted  should  be  separated  from  the  uncon- 
verted. ^  All  the  errors  of  the  revival  were  em- 
bodied in  these  separatist  congregations,  —  reliance 
upon  impressions  as  gaiides  to  conduct,  and  to  the 
knowledge  of  their  own  and  each  other's  condi- 
tions ;  disowning  of  the  ministers  and  churches  of 
the  land  as  lacking  the  attestation  of  the  Spirit ; 
approval  of  lay  exhorting  as  having  the  only  evi- 
dence of  a  divine  presence.^ 

Those  opposed  to  the  revival  now  put  forth  a 
vigorous  opposition.  The  colleges  at  Cambridge 
and  New  Haven  pronoimced  against  the  movement, 
and  did  much  to  stay  the  disorder  by  the  influence 
of  prescriptive  authority.  The  opposition  was  led 
by  Dr.  Chauncy,  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston,  in 
bold  and  able  treatises,^  in  which  he  condemned  the 

of  the  New  England  clergy.  Such  a  report,  of  course,  was  fuel 
to  the  excitement.  Edwards  denied  the  veracity  of  Rector  Clap's 
statement.  Many  letters  passed  between  the  two,  in  which  the 
Rector  of  Yale  College  was  finaUy  worsted.  The  controversy 
has  no  value  beyond  illustrating  the  tenacity  with  which  Edwards 
hung  on  to  an  opponent  until  he  had  silenced  liim.  The  corre- 
spondence was  published,  and  may  be  found  in  the  Hbrary  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

1  Cf.  Tracy,  etc,  p.  317,  for  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  one  of 
these  separatist  churches  at  Mansfield. 

•^  In  1743  Chauncy  published  a  reply  to  Edwards'  Distinguish- 
ing Marks,  etc.,  under  the  title,  The  Late  Eeligious  Commotions  in 
New  England  Considered.  He  seems  to  have  been  fond  of  issu- 
ing his  works  anonymously.  In  this  case  he  signs  himself  "A 
lover  of  truth  and  peace."  Edwards  makes  no  allusion  to  him 
by  name  in  his  works  written  in  defence  of  the  revival. 


182  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

whole  movement  as  a  delusion,  —  the  bodily  effects 
as  evidence  of  human  weakness  rather  than  di\Tlne 
power ;  *  and  denounced  the  intrusions  into  quiet 
villages,  and  the  separations  from  the  established 
order,  as  the  greatest  evil  with  which  New  Eng- 
land could  be  visited.  Religion,  with  him  and 
those  who  agreed  with  him,  consisted  in  responding 
to  the  divine  will  by  a^imple  life  of  obedience  to 
the  moral  precepts  of  the  gospel.  Emotions  and 
high  experiences  he  rejected,'' along  with  impulses 
and  impressions,  as  having  a  common  origin  in  a 
debased  abnormal  condition.  The  Arminians,  and 
their  sympathizers  among  the  old  Calvinists  who 
did  not  follow  with  Edwards,  appear  as  the  con- 
servative power  in  the  churches,  resisting  changes 
which  were  dissolving  the  ancient  Puritan  order. 
The  General  Convention  of  Congregational  Minis- 
ters in  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  put 
forth  in  1743  their  testimony  "  against  errors  in 
doctrine  and  disorders  in  practice  which  have  of 
late  obtained  in  various  parts  of  the  land."  In 
Connecticut  the  evils  of  the  time  were  met  by  an 
effort  to  enforce  the  principles  of  the  Say  brook 
Platform,  in  which  Congregationahsm  availed  it- 
self of  Presbyterian  discipline  as  a  better  method 
of  resisting  disorder  than  the  principle  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  local  congregation. 

It  is  characteristic  of  Edwards  that,  in  rising  to 
the  emergency,  he  does  not  fall  back  upon  external 
authority,  or  any  adventitious  methods  which  might 
serve  a  temporary  convenience.     He  graj^ples  with 


APPEAL  TO  NEW  ENGLAND.  183 

the  piunciple  at  Issue,  making  his  appeal  to  the 
pure  reason.  Hitherto  his  writings  had  Jbeen  ad- 
dressed in  the  first  instance  to  a  congregation  from 
the  pulpit.  In  his  Thoughts  upon  the  Revival  in 
New  England  he  speaks  to  all  the  clergy  and  peo- 
ple in  the  provinces  of  the  new  world.  No  high 
ecclesiastical  official,  no  successor  of  Augustine  in  * 
the  chair  of  Canterbury,  not  even  Gregory  the 
Great  when  he  sp^e  with  authority  to  Western 
Christendom,  reproving  and  exhorting  as  by  di- 
vine right,  —  none  of  these  surpassed  Edwards 
when  he  rose  in  the  consciousness  of  his  strength, 
clothed  with  the  majesty  of  what  he  held  for  vital 
and  eternal  truth,  to  instruct  and  to  warn  the  peo- 
ple of  New  England  as  to  their  duty  in  a  great 
crisis.  His  leading  aim  is  to  show  what  are  the 
things  which  should  be  avoided  or  corrected  in 
order  to  the  furtherance  of  this  work  of  God. 
He  confesses  that  things  have  never  yet  been  set 
agoing  in  their  right  channel ;  that  if  they  liad  been, 
the  work  would  have  so  prevailed  as  to  carry  all 
before  it,  and  to  have  triumphed  over  New  Eng- 
land as  its  conquest.  He  apologizes  for  assmning 
so  high  and  important  a  role,  on  the  score  of  his 
youth  (he  was  then  in  his  fortieth  year) ;  he 
speaks  of  himself,  in  the  conventional  phraseology, 
as  an  "  inferior  worm  ;  "  he  is  anxious  not  to  ap- 
pear as  taking  too  much  upon  him,  as  if  he  were 
dictating  or  determining  the  duty  of  his  fathers  or 
superiors  or  the  civil  rulers.  But  it  is  a  day  when 
great  liberty  is  allowed  to  the  press,  when  every 


184  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

author  may  freely  speak  his  mind  concerning  the 
management  of  civil  affairs,  as  in  the  war  then 
raging  with  Spain.  When  he  considers  the  sad 
jangling  and  confusion  that  has  attended  the  revi- 
val, it  seems  plain  that  somebody  should  speak  his 
mind,  and  that  not  in  a  way  to  inflame  and  increase 
the  uproar,  but  to  bring  the  bitter  contention  to  an 
end.  If  he  is  right,  he  hoj^es  his  work  will  be  re- 
ceived as  a  manifestation  of  the  mind  and  will  of 
God.  If  any  wiU  hold  forth  further  light  to  him 
he  will  thankfully  receive  it.  He  feels  his  need  of 
greater  wisdom,  and  makes  it  his  rule  to  lay  hold 
of  light,  though  it  come  from  a  child  or  an  enemy. 

Edwards'  book,  with  the  title.  Thoughts  on  the 
Revival,  was  published  in  1742.  It  not  only  bears 
the  traces  of  being  written  in  haste,  but  it  lacks 
unity  of  impression,  owing  to  the  conflicting  mo- 
tives which  impelled  him  to  his  task.  To  defend 
the  movement  as  divine,  while  pointing  out  its 
flagrant  abuses,  was  no  easy  task.  But  the  defence 
of  the  work  comes  first  in  the  order  of  treatment, 
for  on  this  point  Edwards  had  an  overwhelming 
conviction  that  demanded  a  full  and  earnest  ut- 
terance. 

One  of  the  arguments  on  which  he  most  relies 
to  prove  the  movement  from  God  is  the  great 
transformation  it  has  worked  amono^  the  churches. 
"  Who  that  saw  the  state  of  things  in  New  Eng- 
land a  few  years  ago,"  he  exclaims,  "  would  have 
thought  that  in  so  little  a  time  there  would  be  such 
a  change  !  "    Notwithstanding  all  the  imprudences 


RELIGIOUS   TRANSFORMATION.  185 

and  sinful  irregularities,  it  was  manifest  and  noto- 
rious that  throughout  the  land  there  had  been  an 
increase  of  a  spirit  of  seriousness.  The  fruits  of 
this  seriousness  were  seen  in  a  disposition  to  treat 
religion  as  a  matter  of  great  importance,  to  per- 
form the  external  duties  of  religion  in  a  more  sol- 
emn and  decent  manner.  There  had  been  an 
awakening  of  the  conscience  of  the  people,  which 
had  led  to  deeper  views  of  human  sinfulness. 
There  was  a  strange  alteration  almost  all  over 
New  England  amongst  young  people.  A  powerful 
invisible  influence  must  have  been  at  work  which 
had  induced  them  to  forsake  their  devious  ways, 
when  hitherto  they  had  clung  to  them  despite  the 
warnings  of  the  ministers,  or  the  vigilance  of  the 
civil  magistrates.  They  had  now  abandoned  their 
frolicking,  their  night-walking,  their  impure  lan- 
guage and  lewd  songs.  And  among  all,  whether 
old  or  young,  there  was  to  be  seen  a  change  in 
their  habits  of  drinking,  tavern -haunting,  profane 
speaking,  and  extravagance  of  apparel.  Notoriously 
vicious  persons  have  been  reformed.  The  wealthy, 
the  fashionable,  the  gay,  great  beaus  and  fine  ladies, 
have  relinquished  their  vanities.  Through  the 
greater  part  of  New  England  the  Bible  has  come 
into  much  greater  esteem  than  it  had  formerly 
been,  as  also  other  books  of  piety.  The  Lord's 
day  has  come  to  be  more  religiously  observed. 
Much  had  been  done  in  making  up  differences,  in 
offering  restitution,  and  in  the  confession  of  faults 
one  to  another,  —  probably  more  within  these  two 


186  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

years  tlian  had  been  done  in  thirty  years  before. 
And  in  view  of  all  this,  was  it  not  strange  that,  in 
a  Christian,  orthodox  country,  and  in  such  a  land 
of  light,  there  should  be  many  at  a  loss  whether 
the  worh  is  of  God,  or  of  the  devil  ?  For  this  is 
certain,  that  it  is  a  great  and  wonderful  event,  a 
strange  revolution,  an  unexpected,  surprising  over- 
turning of  things,  such  as  has  never  been  seen  in 
New  England,  and  scarce  ever  has  been  heard  of 
in  any  land.  If  it  is  a  work  of  God,  it  is  a  most 
glorious  work,  or,  if  a  work  of  the  devil,  then  a 
most  awful  calamity.  There  is  but  one  alternative. 
God  and  the  devil  may  work  together  at  the  same 
time  and  in  the  same  land ;  but  they  cannot  work 
together  in  producing  the  same  event. 

For  these  reasons  he  calls  upon  the  magistrates, 
as  well  as  the  clergy,  to  acknowledge  God  in  this 
work,  and  to  put  their  hand  to  its  promotion,  if 
they  would  not  expose  themselves  to  the  curse  of 
God.  He  recommends  also  that  the  press  should 
be  utilized  to  this  end.  They  that  handle  the  pen 
of  the  writer  should  come  up  to  the  help  of  \h^ 
Lord.  He  warns  those  who  are  publishing  pam- 
phlets, in  which  they  endeavor  to  discourage  or 
hinder  the  work,  that  God  may  go  forth  as  fire  to 
consume  all  that  stands  in  His  way,  and  so  burn  up 
those  pamphlets ;  and  there  may  be  danger  that 
the  fire  which  is  kindled  in  them  may  scorch  the 
authors.  He  intimates  that  jealousy  or  envy  may 
be  among  the  motives  which  influence  the  minis- 
ters to  show  themselves  out  of  humor,  or  sullenly 


THE  OLD  REGIME.  1^7 

refuse  to  acknowledge  the  work.  Let  tkem  not 
decline  to  give  the  honor  that  belongs  to  others 
because  they  are  young  or  inferior  to  themselves, 
or  may  appear  unworthy  that  so  much  honor  shoidd 
be  put  upon  them.  But  among  the  clergy  who  may 
be  thus  tempted  he  includes  himself,  for  he  had 
experienced  .the  trial  of  seeing  a  young  man  in  his 
pulpit  at  Northampton  whose  moving  power  on  the 
congregation  proved  greater  than  his  own.  There 
is  a  hint  in  all  this  that  the  old  regime  was  coming 
to  an  end,  when  the  minister  might  grow  old  in  his 
parish  with  the  increasing  reverence  of  his  people, 
even  though  the  fire  of  a  fervent  oratory  had  de- 
clined. But  Edwards  was  inclined  to  acquiesce  in 
the  change.  "  It  is  our  wisest  and  best  way  to 
bow  to  the  great  God  in  this  work,  and  to  be  en- 
tirely resigned  to  Him  \vith  respect  to  the  manner 
in  which  He  carries  it  on." 

Among  the  reasons  which  explain  the  error  of 
those  who  have  had  ill  thoughts  in  regard  to  the 
revival,  Edwards  assigns  the  neglect  of  the  Bible, 
—  the  sole  ride  by  which  such  things  should  be 
judged.  They  follow,  instead,  their  li  j^riori  no- 
tions, or  they  make  philosophy  instead  of  Scrip- 
ture their  ride,  and  so  reach  the  conclusion  that 
religion  is  running  out  into  transports  and  high 
flights  of  the  affections.  These  persons  separate 
the  affections  from  the  will,  as  if  they  did  not 
belong  to  the  noblest  part  of  the  soul,  so  that 
the  relation  of  the  affections  to  Cliristianity  is 
regarded  as  something  adventitious  or  accidental. 


188  THE    GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Those  gentlemen  who  hold  such  a  view  labor,  he 
thinks,  under  a  great  mistake  both  in  their  philos- 
ophy and  divinity.  The  religious  affections  apper- 
tain to  the  essence  of  Christianity ;  the  very  life 
and  soul  of  all  true  religion  consists  in  them.  The 
affections,  he  argues,  should  not  be  separated  from 
the  will  as  though  they  were  two  distinct  faculties. 
Acts  of  the  will  are  simply  acts  of  the  affections. 
The  soul  wills  one  thing  rather  than  another,  no 
otherwise  than  as  it  loves  one  thing  more  than 
another.  The  greater,  therefore,  and  the  higher 
the  exercises  of  love  toward  God  and  of  self-ab- 
horrence for  sin,  so  much  higher  is  Christ's  reli- 
gion, and  the  virtue  which  He  raises  in  the  soul. 

But  another  cause  which  helj)s  to  explain  the 
disaffection  toward  the  revival  is  to  be  found  in 
the  failure  to  discriminate  between  the  evil  and 
the  good  which  are  associated  in  the  movement. 
Because  of  this  want  of  discrimination,  things  are 
condemned  as  abuses  which  Edwards  refuses  to 
condemn.  Among  these  was  the  style  of  preach- 
ing then  coming  into  fashion,  —  what  Edwards  calls 
a  very  affectionate  manner  of  sj^eaking,  with  great 
appearance  of  earnestness  both  in  voice  and  ges- 
ture. It  was  objected  that  this  method  of  preach- 
ing stirred  the  affections  without  reaching  the 
understanding.  Edwards  admits  the  importance 
of  clear  and  distinct  explanation  of  the  doctrines 
of  religion,  —  a  method  in  which  lay  his  own 
strength,  in  great  part,  as  a  preacher.  But  it  is 
evident  that  in  meeting  this  objection  he  is  dis- 


AFFECTIONATE  MODE   OF  PREACHING.       180 

tractecl  by  contrary  impulses.  It  would  have  been 
a  more  congenial  task  to  have  upheld  the  impor- 
tance of  the  scientific,  speculative  aspects  of  Chris- 
tian truth.  But  on  the  other  hand  he  recognizes  in 
the  objection  the  desire  to  eliminate  the  emotions 
from  the  sphere  of  practical  piety,  and  in  the 
emotions  he  considers  the  cliief  part  of  religion  to 
consist.  Hence  he  maintains  the  correctness  and 
necessity  of  this  mode  of  preaching  which  appeals 
to  the  affections.  He  endeavors,  by  a  subtle  dis- 
tinction, to  show  that  the  affections  cannot  really 
be  excited  except  by  light  in  the  understanding. 
We  are  to  infer,  therefore,  that  this  affectionate 
mode  of  preaching  must  somehow  reach  the  mind 
before  it  stirs  tlie  passions.  The  mind  may  be 
enlightened  without  a  learned  handling  of  the  doc- 
trinal points  of  religion.  Edwards  now  goes  so 
far  as  to  maintain  that  speculative  knowledge  of 
divinity  is  not  what  is  chiefly  needed  at  this  time, 
but  rather  warmth  of  devotion.  The  age,  he 
thinks,  abounds  in  this  kind  of  knowledge.  ''  Was 
there  ever  an  age,"  he  exclaims,  "  wherein  streng-th 
and  penetration  of  reason,  extent  of  learning,  ex- 
actness of  distinction,  correctness  of  style,  clear- 
ness of  expression,  did  so  abound?  And  yet  was 
there  ever  an  age  in  which  there  was  so  little  sense 
of  the  evil  of  sin,  so  little  love  to  God,  or  holiness 
of  life?  What  the  people  need  is,  not  to  have  * 
their  heads  stored,  so  much  as  to  have  their  hearts 
touched."  Here,  also.  Scripture  comes  to  his  assist- 
ance.   It  seems  to  be  foretold  that  in  the  latter  days 


190  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING, 

there  will  be  a  loud  and  earnest  preaching  of  the 
gospel.  O  Jerusalem^  that  bring^H  good  tidings^ 
lift  up  thy  voice  with  strength^  cry  aloud^  spare 
not^  is  the  divine  injunction.  This  is  to  be  the 
way  with  the  church  at  the  supreme  moment  when 
the  Christ  mystical  is  about  to  be  brought  forth. 

The  next  abuse  mentioned,  which  Edwards  will 
not  admit  as  such,  is  preaching  terror  to  the  peo- 
ple when  they  are  already  under  great  terrors, 
instead  of  preaching  comfort.  He  admits  of 
course  that  something  else  besides  terror  is  to  be 
pre^hed.  But  before  a  sinner's  conversion  through 
repentance  and  faith,  there  is  no  danger,  he  thinks, 
of  overdoing  the  terrors  of  the  law.  To  bring  in 
the  gospel  too  soon  would  be  to  undo  the  previous 
distress.  The  phase  of  distress  and  terrors  is 
the  moment  of  the  minister's  opportunity.  He 
must  strike  while  the  iron  is  hot ;  then  only  will 
the  work  be  thorouglily  d6ne.  He  himself  is  not 
afraid  to  tell  sinners,  who  are  most  sensible  of  their 
misery,  that  their  case  is  a  thousand  times  worse 
than  they  imagine  ;  for  this  is  the  truth.  If  all 
this  should  lead  in  some  cases  to  religious  melan- 
choly, it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  ministers.  The 
same  objection  might  be  urged  against  the  Bible 
as  against  awakening  preaching.  There  are  hun- 
dreds and  probably  thousands  of  instances  of  per- 
sons who  have  murdered  themselves  under  religious 
melancholy,  which  would  not  have  been  the  case  if 
they  had  remained  in  heathen  darkness. 

That   which   more    especially   gave   offence    to 


CHILDREN  IN  THE  REVIVAL.  191 

many  was  the  frightening  of  poor,  innocent  chil- 
dren with  talk  of  hell  fire  and  eternal  damnation. 
This,  also,  Edwards  maintains,  is  not  an  abuse. 
Those  who  complain  of  the  ministers  who  follow 
this  method  raise  a  loud  cry,  as  if  such  conduct 
were  intolerable.  But  this  complaint  only  betrays 
weakness  and  inconsideration.  Here  follows  the 
passage  which  has  been  remembered  against  Ed- 
wards to  our  own  day  :  — 

"  As  innocent  as  young  children  seem  to  be  to  us,  yet, 
if  they  are  out  of  Christ,  they  are  not  so  in  God's  sight, 
but  are  young  vipers,  and  infinitely  more  hateful  than 
vipers,  and  are  in  a  most  miserable  condition  as  well  as 
grown  persons  ;  and  they  are  naturally  very  senseless 
and  stupid,  being  horn  as  the  tvild  ass's  colt,  and  need 
much  to  awaken  them."  ♦ 

Upon  this  point  Edwards  makes  no  qualifica- 
tion whatever.  In  theory  and  in  practice  he  ex- 
tended the  revival  to  the  case  of  children.  He 
himself  presided  over  children's  meetings.  He 
thought  that  God  really  descended  from  heaven  to 
be  amongst  them.  He  declares  that  he  has  seen 
the  happy  effects  of  dealing  plainly  with  them  in 
the  concerns  of  their  souls,  nor  has  he  ever  known 
any  ill  consequences  to  result  frcm  such  a  method. 
Indeed,  God  in  this  work  has  shown  a  remarkable 
regard  to  little  cliildren.  Let  men  take  care  that 
they  do  not  despise  the  religion  of  children,  as 
did  the  scribes  and  high  priests  who  complained 
of  the  children  when  they  cried  Hosanna  in  the 
temple,  to  whom  also  Jesus  had  replied :    "  Have 


192  THE  GREAT  A  WAKENING. 

ye  never  read,  Out  of  tlie  moutli  of  babes  and 
sucklings  thou  bast  perfected  praise  ?  " 

Much  also  was  said  against  frequent  religious 
meetings,  and  spending  too  great  an  amount  of 
time  in  religion.  This  objection  Edwards  meets 
with  ease  and  in  his  usual  manner.  He  affirms,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  that  people  ought  not  to  neg- 
lect the  business  of  their  daily  calling.  But  hav- 
ing admitted  the  princij^le,  he  seeks  in  some  de- 
gree to  counteract  its  force.  He  urges  that  it  may 
not  be  so  improper  after  all,  if,  while  people  are 
seeking  eternal  riches  and  immortal  glory,  they 
should  in  some  measure  suffer  in  their  temporal 
concerns.  On  extraordinary  occasions  a  whole 
nation  spends  time  and  money  in  the  ceremonies 
of  a  public  rejoicing.  Why,  then,  should  we  be  so 
exact  with  God  as  to  think  it  a  crime  if  we  in- 
jure our  temporal  interests  in  His  service  ?  But, 
whichever  way  he  looks,  he  has  the  best  of  the  ar- 
gument. He  is  sure  that  of  late,  more  time  has 
been  gained  than  lost ;  more  time  has  been  saved 
from  frolicking  and  tavern-haunting,  unprofitable 
visits,  vain  talk  and  needless  diversions,  than  has 
been  spent  in  extraordinary  religion  ;  "  and  prob- 
ably five  times  as  much  has  been  saved  in  persons' 
estates,  at  the  taverns  and  in  their  apparel,  as  has 
been  spent  by  religious  meetings." 

There  was  one  other  accompaniment  of  the  re- 
vival which  its  opponents  regarded  as  an  abuse 
and  delusion,  which  Edwards  still  refuses  to  con- 
demn.    Once  more  we  must  revert  to  the  "  bodily 


PHYSICAL  MANIFESTATIONS.  193 

effects  "  which  waited  upon  the  movement,  as  Ed- 
wards believed,  by  a  divine  appointment.  It  has 
been  already  remarked  that  he  clung  to  these 
manifestations,  impelled  as  it  were  by  some  inward 
necessity.  In  'his  Thoughts  on  the  Revival  he 
resumes  the  subject,  placing  it  in  the  foreground 
of  his  treatment,  determined,  as  it  would  seem,  to 
have  it  out  mth  his  opponents.  It  is  a  subject 
which  is  confessedly  difficult  and  mysterious,  nor 
is  his  attitude  wholly  free  from  contradiction. 
But  he  guards  himself  as  far  as  possible  from  mis- 
apprehension. These  bodily  affections  and  high 
transports,  he  affirms,  have  nothing  to  do  with  true 
religion,  which  consists  only  in  a  right  state  of 
mind  and  correct  moral  conduct.  They  are  to  be 
regarded  as  incidental,  not  to  be  sought  after  or 
encouraged,  not  to  be  valued  as  a  sign  of  the  di- 
vine favor.  "  The  degree  of  the  influence  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  on  particular  persons  is  by  no 
means  to  be  judged  of  by  the  degree  of  external 
aj)pearances."  But,  taking  the  movement  as  a 
whole,  these  effects  are  also  probable  tokens  of 
God's  presence.  Where  they  exist,  they  are  argai- 
ments  for  the  success  of  the  preaching.  A  great 
crying  out  in  a  congregation,  in  consequence  of  the 
powerful  presentation  of  the  truth,  seems  to  him  a 
thing  to  rejoice  in,  much  more  than  if  there  were 
only  an  appearance  of  solemn  attention  and  a  show 
of  affection  by  weeping.  ''  To  rejoice  that  the 
work  is  carried  on  calmly,  without  much  ado,  is 
in  effect  to  rejoice  that  it  is  carried  on  with  less 


194  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

power,  or  that  there  is  not  so  much  of  the  influence 
of  God's  Spirit." 

He  regards  it  also  as  a  specious  objection  against 
the  work.,  that  there  have  been  cases  where  the 
body  is  injured,  or  the  health  impaired.  Did  not 
Jacob  wrestle  with  God  for  a  blessing,  and  gain 
the  blessing,  though  he  was  sent  away  halting  upon 
his  thigh,  and  went  lame  ever  after  ?  Is  it  strange 
that  if  God  pleases  a  little  to  withdraw  the  veil,  to 
let  in  light  upon  the  soul,  giving  a  view  of  the 
things  of  another  world  in  their  transcendent  and 
infinite  greatness,  that  human  nature,  which  is  as 
the  grass,  a  shaking  leaf,  a  weak  withering  flower, 
should  totter  under  such  a  discovery  ?  When 
Daniel  saw  the  majesty  of  Christy  there  was  no 
strength  left  in  him ;  when  John  the  apostle  saw 
Him,  he  fell  at  His  feet  as  one  dead.  The  prophet 
Habbakuk,  when  he  saw  the  awfulness  of  the  di- 
vine manifestation,  exclaims,  "  When  I  heard,  my 
belly  trembled,  my  lips  quivered  at  the  voice,  rot- 
tenness entered  into  my  bones."  The  Psalmist 
also  was  affected  as  persons  of  late  have  been : 
"  I  opened  my  mouth  and  panted,  for  I  longed  for 
thy  commandments."  God  may  be  pleased  at 
times  to  make  the  cup  of  blessing  to  run  over. 
"  It  has  been  with  the  disciples  of  Christ,  for  a  long 
time,  a  time  of  great  emptiness  upon  spiritual  ac- 
counts ;  they  have  gone  hungry,  and  have  been 
toiling  in  vain  during  a  dark  season,  a  time  of 
night  with  the  church  of  God  ;  as  it  was  with  the 
disciples  of  old,  when  they  had  toiled  all  night  for 


DEFECT  IN  EDWARDS'  ATTITUDE.  195 

sometliing  to  eat  and  had  taken  nothing.  But  now, 
the  morning  being  come,  Jesus  appeared  to  his  dis- 
ciples, and  takes  a  compassionate  notice  of  their 
wants,  and  says  to  them,  Children^  have  ye  any 
meat?  and  gives  them  such  abundance  of  food 
that  they  are  not  able  to  draw  their  net ;  yea,  their 
net  breaks,  their  vessel  is  overloaded  and  begins  to 
sink."  In  this  process  God  may  not  only  weaken 
the  body,  but  may  take  the  life  also.  In  this  way 
it  has  been  supposed  that  the  life  of  Moses  was 
taken.  Indeed,  God  may  so  impair  the  frame  of 
the  body,  and  particularly  of  the  brain,  that  per- 
sons shall  be  deprived  of  the  use  of  the  reason. 
And  if  God  does  give  such  discoveries  of  Himself 
as  to  lead  to  this  result,  the  blessing  is  greater 
than  the  calamity,  even  though  the  life  should  be 
taken  away ;  yea,  even  though  the  soul  should  not 
be  immediately  taken  away,  but  should  be  for 
years  in  a  deep  sleep,  or  be  deprived  of  the  use  of 
its  faculties  before  it  should  pass  into  glory.  Con- 
sidering what  a  number  of  persons  have  been  over- 
powered of  late,  it  is  remarkable  that  their  lives 
should  have  been  preserved,  and  that  the  instances 
of  those  who  have  been  deprived  of  their  reason 
should  have  been  so  few.^ 

In  accounting  for  Edwards'  attitude  on  this  sub- 
ject, it  has  been  already  suggested  that  a  system 
like  his,  of  such  transcendent  idealism,  needed 
some  tangible  or  physical  counterpoise,  in  order 
that  it  might  not  be  detached  altogether  from  the 

1  Thoughts,  etc.,  vol.  iii.  pp.  282-285. 


196  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

external  world,  and  so  be  in  danger  of  terminating 
in  unreality.  It  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  his 
system  that  he  makes  no  attempt  to  trace  an  or- 
ganic relationship  between  man  and  nature.  The 
external  world  existed  only  mentally  and  in  the 
mind  of  God.  The  purpose  of  nature  in  relation 
to  man,  its  necessity  to  his  spiritual  existence,  the 
conflict  of  man  with  nature,  the  victory  which  is 
reached  through  perpetual  struggle,  and  is  mani- 
fested in  the  ever-increasing  transmutation  of  the 
natural  into  the  spiritual,  —  these  are  thoughts 
which  j&nd  no  expression  in  his  works.  He  had 
reacted  against  the  low  materialistic  tendency  of 
the  age  which  glorified  the  miracle  as  the  highest 
evidence  for  the  validity  of  a  spiritual  revelation. 
He  had  adopted  a  definition  of  the  supernatural 
which  did  not  include  the  miracle,  finding  the 
evidence  for  the  truth  of  spiritual  things  in  the 
inward  consciousness,  the  insight  or  intuition  of 
the  soul.  But  he  saw  no  significance  for  the  mir- 
acle as  in  itself  a  spiritual  process,  —  as  in  the  tri- 
umph of  Christ's  perfected  humanity  over  the  law 
of  necessity  in  nature.  His  earnest  defence  of  the 
bodily  manifestations  may  be  taken  as  an  intima- 
tion that  he  felt  the  need  of  some  element  which 
his  system  did  not  afford.  He  might  have  found 
the  desired  relief,  —  the  response  of  nature  to  the 
invocation  of  the  Spirit,  —  had  he  been  willing  to 
lay  supreme  emphasis  on  moral  practice  as  the  test 
of  the  Spirit's  presence  and  power.  But  from  this 
mode  of  escape  he  had  shut  himself  off  by  placing 


MRS,  EDWARDS  IN   THE  REVIVAL.  197 

conscience,  together  with  the  greater  part  of  the 
moral  sphere  of  human  life,  under  the  control  of 
God's  common  grace,  which  carries  with  it  no 
saving  efficacy.  And  yet  at  times  he  was  on  the 
eve  of  accepting  this  mode  of  deliverance :  he  hov- 
ers about  the  ethical  result  as  the  tangible  evi- 
dence of  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul.  And,  indeed, 
though  he  never  retracted  his  testimony  in  behaK 
of  bodily  manifestations,  it  was  to  this  conclusion 
that  he  seems  to  have  been  gravitating  as  he  closed 
the  long  discussion. 

There  is,  however,  another  explanation  of  Ed- 
wards' relation  to  this  subject,  which  is  too  inter- 
esting and  important  to  be  passed  over  without  a 
brief  allusion.  We  cannot  be  wrong  in  assigning 
to  Mrs.  Edwards  a  place  in  the  Great  Awakening 
hardly  inferior  to  that  occupied  by  her  husband. 
The  young  girl  whom  at  the  age  of  thirteen  he 
had  eulogized  as  a  favorite  of  Heaven,  whose  rare 
beauty  had  satisfied  his  fastidious  taste,  was  still 
exercising  as  a  mature  woman  the  same  attractive 
influence  over  his  mind  and  heart.  There  is  abun- 
dant evidence  of  the  speU  which  she  exerted  over 
those  around  her  by  the  beauty  of  her  person,  and 
the  sino^ular  and  refined  loveliness  of  her  manner, 
as  also  of  the  character  which  inspired  it.  Her 
reputation  had  gone  abroad  in  the  colony,  she  was 
even  said  to  surpass  her  husband  in  her  endow- 
ment of  Christian  graces.  Like  him,  she  was  a 
mystic  devotee,  with  a  natural  capacity  for  the 
highest  fervors  of  devotion.    It  was  her  experience 


198  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

—  which  seemed  to  Edwards  as  genuine  as  it  was 
remarkable  —  which  would  have  compelled  him  to 
believe,  even  against  his  will,  that  the  divine  vis- 
itation might  overpower  the  human  body.  At  his 
request  she  wrote  a  statement  of  these  vicissitudes 
of  her  inner  life,^  to  which  Edwards  often  alludes, 
and  which  he  finally  incorporated  in  his  own 
words,  though  not  mentioning  her  by  name,  in  his 
Thoughts  on  the  Revival  in  New  England.  He 
j)resents  it  to  his  readers  as  if  it  were  decisive  of 
the  question  at  issue. 

Apart  from  its  religious  significance,  Mrs.  Ed- 
wards' statement  is  valuable  as  throwino^  lig-ht 
upon  her  husband's  personal  history,  as  well  as  her 
own.  Indeed,  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  pure 
womanliness  of  her  statement,  the  traces  of  femi- 
nine pride  in  her  husband,  her  jealousy  for  his 
reputation,  and  her  desire  to  retain  undiminished 
his  respect  and  love,  are  more  interesting  to  the 
ordinary  reader  than  the  expressions  of  mystic 
rapture  with  which  it  abounds.  It  was  towards 
the  close  of  the  year  1738,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-nine,  that  "  she  was  led  under  an  uncommon 
discovery  of  God's  excellency  and  in  a  high  exer- 
cise of  love  to  God,  and  of  rest  and  joy  in  Him,  to 
make  a  new  and  most  solemn  dedication  of  herself 
to  His  service  and  glory,  —  an  entire  renunciation 
of  the  world,  and  a  resignation  of  all  to  God."  The 
occasion  which  led  her  to  long  for  a  deeper  resig- 
nation and  a  more  entire  renunciation  of  the  world 
^  Dwight,  Life  of  Edwards,  pp.  171-190. 


MRS.   EDWARDS'   SELF-RENUNCIATION.       199 

was  a  casual  suggestion  of  Mr.  Edwards  that  she 
had  failed  in  some  measure  in  point  of  prudence 
in  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Williams,  of  Hadley. 
As  she  looked  into  her  mind,  she  found  that  it 
seemed  to  bereave  her  of  quietness  and  calm  not 
to  have  the  good  opinion  of  her  husband.  She 
saw  that  two  things  interfered  with  an  act  of  com- 
plete renunciation,  —  the  desire  to  keep  her  own 
good  name  and  fair  reputation  among  men,  and  es- 
pecially the  esteem  and  just  treatment  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  town,  and  more  especially  the  esteem  and 
love  and  kind  treatment  of  her  husband.  And 
again,  on  another  occasion,  she  had  felt  that  the  eye 
of  God  was  upon  her  to  observe  how  she  was  af- 
fected by  the  respect  shown  to  Mr.  Edwards,  who 
had  then  been  sent  for  to  preach  at  Leicester. 
She  was  sensible  that  the  incident  had  ministered 
to  her  pride  in  her  husband,  rather  than  to  a  pure 
interest  in  the  extension  of  God's  work.  When 
she  heard  that  Mr.  Buel,  a  young  man  recently 
ordained,  was  coming  to  Northampton  to  take  Mr. 
Edwards'  place  during  his  absence,  she  had  a 
struggle  with  herseK  before  she  was  willing  to 
pray  that  God  woidd  bless  his  labors.  She  gained, 
as  she  thought,  the  resig-nation  and  the  submission 
for  which  she  longed,  although  Mr.  Buell's  preach- 
ing was  attended  by  greater  success  than  had  at- 
tended her  husband's  preaching  before  he  went  to 
Leicester.  Even  if  God  were  never  ao'ain  to  bless 
the  labors  of  Mr.  Edwards,  or  were  to  make  use 
of  Mr.  Buell  to  the  enlivening  of  every  saint  and 


200  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

tlie  conversion  of  every  sinner  in  the  town,  slie 
thought  her  resignation  woukl  enable  her  to  re- 
joice in  the  result.  She  was  not  only  willing  that 
her  pride  in  Mr.  Edwards  should  be  humbled,  but 
the  moment  came  when  she  felt  that  she  would  be 
able  to  bear,  if  God  so  willed  it,  these  two  greatest 
evils,  —  the  ill-treatment  of  the  town  and  the  ill- 
will  of  her  husband.  "  I  was  carried  above  even 
these  things,"  so  she  writes,  "  and  could  feel  that, 
if  I  were  exposed  to  them  both,  they  would  seejn 
comparatively  nothing." 

We  may  doubt  if  she  had  succeeded  so  com- 
pletely as  she  thought  to  have  done  ;  for  ever  and 
anon  in  her  confession  she  repeats  how  entirely 
willing  she  had  become  that  "  God  should  employ 
some  other  instrument  than  Mr.  Edwards  in  ad- 
vancing the  work  of  grace  in  Northampton."  It 
may  have  been  also  that  her  sensitive  instincts  di- 
vined afar  off  the  impending  calamity  for  her 
family ;  she  may  have  been  foreboding  and  pre- 
paring for  an  event  which  would  call  forth  the  re- 
quirements of  stoical  fortitude,  when,  her  husband's 
power  as  a  preacher  having  declined,  and  his  hold 
upon  his  congregation  lost,  they  should  be  driven 
forth  as  it  were  into  that  wilderness  which,  in  her 
imagination,  she  had  descried,  amid  the  scorn  and 
contumely  of  the  people.  But  however  this  may 
be,  none  the  less  did  she  have  her  reward  for  her 
consecration  to  what  she  believed  to  be  the  di- 
vine will.  For  a  period  of  nearly  three  years  she 
remained  in  a  state  of  such  spiritual  exhilaration 


MRS.    EDWARDS^   EXPERIENCE.  201 

as  lifted  her  above  the  world,  and  brought  her  into 
intimate  communion  with  Heaven.  Although  ni  a 
condition  of  firm  health,  she  was  constantly  over- 
come by  the  power  of  her  emotions  and  the  vivid- 
ness of  her  applstrehensions  of  divine  things,  so 
much  so  as  to  faint,  or  to  be  deprived  of  her 
strength.  At  other  times  she  rose  up  leaping  with 
joy  and  exultation.  The  depth  of  her  sense  of 
assurance  of  her  o^vn  salvation  surpassed  anything 
her  husband  had  experienced.  Her  soul  seemed 
to  be  on  the  eve  of  sundering  its  tie  with  the  body. 

"  I  had  a  constant,  clear,  and  Hvely  sense  of  the  heav- 
enly sweetness   of   Christ's   excellent  and  transcendent 
love,  of  His  nearness  to  me  and  of  my  dearness  to  Him  ; 
with  an  inexpressibly  sweet  calmness  of  soul  in  an  entire 
rest  in  Him.     1  seemed  to  myself  to  perceive  a  glow  of 
divine   love    come  clown  from  the  heart   of  Christ   m 
heaven  into  my  heart  in  a  constant  stream,  like  a  stream 
or  pencil  of  sweet  light.     What  I  felt  each  minute  of 
this  time  was  worth  more  than  all  the  outward  comfort 
and  pleasure  which  I  had  enjoyed  in  my  whole  life  put 
together.  ...  To  my  own  miagination  my  soul  seemed 
to  be  gone  out  of  me  to  God  and  Christ  in  heaven.    God 
and    Christ  were  so  present  and  so  near  me,  that  I 
seemed   removed   from   myself.  ...  I   had   an   over- 
whelming sense  of  the  glory  of  God  as  the  great  Eter- 
nal All.     I  knew  that  I   certainly  should  go  to  Him, 
and  should  as  it  were  drop  into  the  Divine  Being  and 
be  swallowed  up  in  God." 

Edwards'  comment  upon  his  wife's  experience 
may  be  read  at  lengiih   in   his  Thoughts  on   the 


202  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Revival.  He  was  so  afraid  that  lie  should  he 
misled  hy  it,  that  he  scrutinizes  it  with  the  cool 
manner  of  a  disinterested  observer.  As  he  stud- 
ied it,  it  seemed  to  answer  every  test  which  he  ap- 
plied. Mrs.  Edwards  was  led  into  no  extremes 
of  behavior  ;  she  retained  her  good  judgment  and 
sound  common  sense.  She  followed  no  impulses  ; 
she  was  the  subject  of  no  impressiojis.  Her  high 
experience  seemed  to  strengthen  and  purify  her 
Christian  character.  She  was  free  from  censo- 
riousness,  with  no  disposition  to  judge  of  others : 
she  was  filled  with  charity  and  humility.  She  did 
not  neglect  the  necessary  business  of  a  secular  call- 
ing in  order  to  spend  time  in  the  exercises  of  devo- 
tion, but  rather  realized,  in  worldly  business  j)er- 
formed  with  alacrity,  the  service  of  God,  and  as  it 
were  a  substitute  for  prayer.  What  she  had  felt 
could  be,  therefore,  nothing  else  than  the  resj^onse 
to  the  exalted  expressions  of  Scripture :  T7ie 
peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding  ; 
the  joy  and  peace  in  helieving^  which  is  unspealc- 
ahle  and  full  of  glory.  "  Now  if  such  things,"  he 
exclaims,  "  are  enthusiasm  and  the  fruits  of  a  dis- 
tempered brain,  let  my  brain  be  evermore  pos- 
sessed of  that  happy  distemper !  If  this  be  dis- 
traction, I  pray  God  that  the  world  of  mankind 
may  be  all  seized  with  this  benign,  meek,  benefi- 
cent, beatifical,  glorious  distraction." 

A  critical  student,  concerned  only  with  what  is 
unique  in  psychological  manifestations,  might  be 
inclined  to  inquire,  whether,  in  all  this,  Mrs.  Ed- 


CRITICISM  OF    THE  REVIVAL.  203 

wards  may  not  have  been  adapting  herself  nncon- 
sciously  to  her  husband's  views,  striving  in  a  sjnrit 
of  devotion  and  loyalty  to  embody  her  husband's 
ideal  of  what  a  saint  on  earth  should  be.  To  some 
extent  this  may  be  true.  But  no  such  suspicion 
crossed  his  mind.  He  staked  the  whole  question 
at  issue  on  his  wife's  experience.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  hers  was  the  stronger  influence. 

To  the  task  of  exposing  the  abuses  of  the  revi- 
val Edwards  seems  to  come  with  reluctance.  He 
lingers  on  the  gloriousness  of  the  work,  the  rea- 
sons why  all  should  unite  in  promoting  it.  But 
when  he  has  once  committed  himself  to  the  busi- 
ness of  criticism,  he  shows  the  same  disposition  to 
thoroughness  of  treatment  which  characterizes  all 
his  writings.  His  tone  is  kindly,  for  he  is  address- 
ing the  friends  of  the  movement  rather  than  its 
foes.     But  he  lays  his  axe  at  the  root  of  the  tree. 

The  first  evil  which  he  attacked  went  under  the 
name  of  imindses  or  impressions}  He  declares 
that  one  of  the  wrong  principles  which  had  given 
rise  to  grave  errors  was  the  notion  "  that  it  is 
God's  manner  in  these  days  to  guide  His  saints  by 
inspiration  or  immediate  revelation,  to  make  known 

1  Edwards'  Thoughts  on  the  Revival  was  republished  in  Eng- 
land by  Wesley  with  the  title,  Thoughts  Concerning  the  Present 
Revival  of  Religion  in  New  England,  by  Jonathan  Edwards. 
Abridged  by  John  Wesley,  A.  M.  London,  1745.  It  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  nature  of  the  abridgment  that,  while  the  discussion 
of  "bodily  effects"  is  retained,  all  that  relates  to  "impulses  and 
impressions  ' '  is  omitted. 


204  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

to  tliem  what  shall  come  to  pass  hereafter,  or  what 
it  is  His  will  they  should  do."  That  people  should 
have  been  misled  into  such  a  notion  was  a  thing 
to  have  been  expected.  To  admit  the  immediate 
action  of  the  divine  Spirit  in  the  soul  seemed  to 
warrant  the  vulgar  conclusion  that  the  future 
would  now  be  revealed,  and  their  course  of  duty 
under  all  circumstances  made  plain.  What  else, 
they  might  have  argued,  did  they  need  more  than 
this,  —  an  infallible  directory  within  ?  In  what 
other  way  could  the  divine  Spirit,  which  was  dis- 
tinct and  different  from  the  human,  manifest  itself 
as  an  inward  reality,  unless  by  doing  that  which 
the  human  spirit  could  not  do?  Edwards  himself 
had  at  first  sounded  a  wrong  note  when,  in  his 
Narrative  of  Surprising  Conversions,  he  attrib- 
uted importance  to  the  circumstance  that,  in  the 
process  of  an  awakening  soul,  passages  of  Scripture 
suddenly  came  to  the  mind  as  if  suggested  by  the 
Holy  Spirit.  But  he  now  deprecates  this  idea  as 
part  of  the  same  delusion  as  the  impulses  and  im- 
pressions. 

But  while  Edwards  has  emancipated  himself 
from  all  complicity  with  the  various  manifestations 
of  this  evil  principle,  we  search  his  pages  in  vain 
for  a  satisfactory  enunciation  of  the  method  by 
which  the  root  of  the  evil  is  to  be  reached.  He  is 
sure  that  the  principle  is  wrong,  that  it  has  a  ten- 
dency to  supplant  Scripture,  to  bring  in  confusion, 
to  nourish  pride,  to  draw  off  the  mind  from  the 
one  thing  needful.     Why  cannot  men  be  content 


THE  HUMAN  AND   THE  DIVINE.  205 

with  the  divine  oracles  ?  Why  should  they  desire 
to  make  Scripture  speak  more  than  it  does  ?  There 
is  nothing  necessarily  spiritual  in  this  idea  of  spe- 
cial direction.  Even  if  God  were  to  reveal  anything 
by  a  voice  from  heaven,  there  is  in  it  nothing  of 
the  nature  of  true  grace ;  it  is  but  a  common  in- 
fluence of  the  Spirit ;  it  is  but  dross  and  dung  in 
comparison  with  the  gracious  leading  that  a  real 
saint  possesses.  As  much  as  this  God  gave  to  Ba- 
laam, revealing  to  him  what  he  shoidd  say  or  do. 
But  there  is  a  more  excellent  way  than  inspiration 
in  wliich  the  Spirit  of  God  leads  the  sons  of  God, 
—  their  transformation  by  the  renewal  of  their 
mind,  proving  to  them  what  is  the  good  and  accept- 
able and  perfect  will  of  God. 

All  this  is  as  true  as  it  is  admirably  said.  What- 
ever the  deficiences  of  Edwards'  theory  may  have 
been,  a  true  instinct  warned,  him  away  from  all 
hnpulses  and  imjyressions^  as  having  a  tendency 
toward  the  degradation  of  the  spiritual,  or  to  a  sen- 
suous confounding  of  the  spiritual  with  the  mate- 
rial. To  suppose  that  these  physical  or  external 
impressions  were  in  any  way  caused  by  God,  was 
"  a  low,  miserable  notion  of  spiritual  sense."  If  he 
had  only  felt  at  liberty  to  develop  this  principle, 
his  attitude  would  have  been  clear  and  consistent. 
Tlie  grace  divine  could  then  have  been  conceived 
as  the  implantation  in  the  soul  of  an  attraction 
toward  the  good,  mingling  insensibly  with  the 
springs  of  human  action,  yet  so  as  to  be  wholly  di- 
vine, while    seeming  to  be  wholly  human.     The 


206  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

love  of  the  good  would  then  become  the  basis  of 
faith  in  the  spiritual,  the  very  essence  of  God 
within  the  soul.  Edwards  was  inclined  to  such  a 
view  of  the  divine  action,  but  fears  of  Arminian- 
ism  prevented  its  full  acceptance.  He  has  before 
him  the  Arminian  statement  that  "  the  manner  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  is  to  cooperate  in  a  silent,  secret, 
and  undiscernible  way  with  the  use  of  means  and 
our  own  endeavors,  so  that  there  is  no  distinguish- 
ing by  sense  between  the  influences  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  and  the  natural  operations  of  the  faculties 
of  our  own  minds."  ^  But  if  he  admitted  this 
principle,  how  could  he  maintain,  what  lay  so  close 
to  his  heart,  that  the  great  revival  was  an  excep- 
tional moment  in  history  when  God  was  working 
more  powerfully  than  was  His  usual  manner,  in  a 
way  unique  and  spasmodic,  producing  even  phys- 
ical manifestations  as  in  the  great  upheaval  of  the 
apostolic  age?  And  still  further,  if  he  admitted 
such  a  view,  it  would  have  required  a  reconstruc- 
tion of  his  ideas  of  humanity,  a  practical  abandon- 
ment of  the  distinction  between  elect  and  non-elect, 
a  modification  of  his  views  of  original  sin  and  the 
freedom  of  the  will.  In  fact  every  feature  of  his 
theology  was  involved  in  the  issue  to  which  he  had 
now  been  brought.  That  issue  was  no  other  than 
the  momentous  inquiry  as  to  the  relation  between 
the  divine  and  the  humai\,  —  whether  they  were  by 
nature  incompatible  with  and  foreign  to  each  other, 
or  whether  they  tended  to  flow  together  by  an   in- 

^  Religious  Affections,  vol.  iii.  p.  29. 


ACTION   OF  DIVINE   GRACE.  207 

ward  affinity,  forming  an  union  In  which  they  can- 
not be  divlclecl  or  separated,  even  If  they  may  be 
distinguished  from  each  other. 

The  following  passage  shows  Edwards  as  at- 
tempting a  sort  of  compromise  with  a  truth  which 
strangely  attracts  him,  while  he  cannot  accept  It :  — 

"  However  all  exercises  of  grace  be  from  the  Spirit 
of  God,  yet  the  Spirit  of  God  dwells  and  acts  in  the 
hearts  of  the  saints  in  some  measure  after  the  manner 
of  a  vital,  natural  principle,  a  principle  of  new  nature  In 
them ;  whose  exercises  are  excited  by  means  in  some 
measure  as  other  natural  principles  are.  Though  grace 
be  not  In  the  saints  as  a  mere  natural  princijjle,  but 
as  a  sovereign  agent,  and  so  its  exercises  are  not  tied 
to  means  by  an  immutable  law  of  nature,  as  In  mere 
natural  principles ;  yet  God  has  so  constituted  that 
grace  should  dwell  so  in  the  hearts  of  the  saints  that  its 
exercises  should  have  some  connection  with  means,  after 
the  manner  of  a  principle  of  nature."  ^ 

Because  Edwards  failed  to  reach  a  satisfactory 
solution  of  this  fundamental  problem,  his  attitude 
was  an  uncertain  and  Inconsistent  one.  He  could 
not  effectually  overcome  the  evils  of  the  revival, 
nor  meet  the  argiiments  of  those  who  contended 
for  imjndses  and  impressions  as  evidences  of  the 
Spirit's  presence  and  power.  He  must  be  held 
partly  responsible  for  these  very  evils.  Na}^  more, 
he  was  forced  Into  a  worse  situation,  if  that  were 
possible,  than  those  who  were  following  their  o^vn 
Impressions,  under  the  delusion  that  they  were 
1  Thoughts  on  the  Revival^  iii.  p.  378. 


208  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

divine.  Dr.  Chauncy  and  his  sympathizers,  who 
opposed  the  revival,  showed  their  keenness  in  fas- 
tening upon  this  dekision  as  its  vrdnerable  point. 
They  may  have  been  in  error  in  attributing  too 
much  to  human  action,  or  in  reducing  the  divine 
Spirit  to  a  mere  humble,  unrecognized  servitor 
upon  the  human  spirit.  Edwards  denounces  them 
for  refusing  to  confess  the  worh  as  divine :  he  is 
fearful  lest  they  should  commit  the  unpardonable 
sin  by  denying  the  presence  and  activity  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  the  religious  contagion  which  was 
spreading  throughout  the  land.  But  what  shall 
we  say  in  reference  to  the  ground  which  he  was 
driven  to  take  in  order  to  defend  his  own  position  ? 
Assuming,  as  he  did,  that  the  action  of  the  Spirit 
in  the  revival  was  extraordinary,  manifested  in 
bodily  effects,  and  always  distinguishable  from  the 
human  activity,  he  was  obliged  to  admit  that  the 
tendency  of  this  divine  action  was  to  excite  incli- 
nations which  if  gratified  would  lead  to  confusion. 
Human  judgment  and  discretion  must  therefore 
come  to  the  rescue,  in  order  to  prevent  the  unlim- 
ited influence  of  the  divine.  He  illustrates  this 
necessity  of  checking  and  curbing  the  divine  influ- 
ence, by  showing  how  absurd  it  would  be,  if  those 
who  were  moved  by  the  love  of  souls  were  to  spend 
all  their  time,  night  and  day,  in  warning  and  ex- 
horting men,  giving  themselves  no  opportunity  to 
drink  or  sleep.  Such  a  course  of  action  would  do 
ten  times  more  injury  than  good.  And  yet,  upon 
Edwards'  principles,  not  to  do  this  presents  the 


ITINERANT  PREACHERS.  209 

extraordinary  spectacle  of  the  divine  influence  con- 
trolled and  kept  within  bounds  by  human  prudence. 
But  we  must  believe  that  Edwards  was  not  wholly 
satisfied  with  his  own  attitude.  A  mind  like  his, 
whose  own  obstinate  self  -  questionings  were  more 
embarrassing  than  the  objections  of  his  opponents, 
still  remains  a  more  profitable  as  well  as  interest- 
ing study  than  the  writings  of  an  antagonist  like 
Chauncy,  who  had  no  misgivings  when  deciding  on 
the  course  of  action  to  be  pursued.  We  turn  away 
from  the  consideration  of  tliis  abuse,  the  impulses 
and  impressions,  to  another  evil  which  grew  out 
of  them,  whose  result  was  to  subvert  the  ecclesias- 
tical order  in  New  England. 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  itinerant  preach- 
ers and  lay  exhorters  who  went  travelling  over  the 
comitry,  intruding  into  parishes,  censuring  the 
clergy  as  unconverted,  calling  upon  God  either  to 
convert  or  to  remove  them,  advising  their  people 
to  form  separatist  churches  in  the  interest  of  their 
own  salvation.  Such  were  the  Whitefields,  the 
Tennants,  the  Davenports,  and  the  young  men  who 
were  inspired  by  their  example.  There  had  grown 
up  in  New  England,  in  the  hundred  years  that  had 
elapsed  since  its  settlement,  a  consolidated  eccle- 
siastical system  which  was  as  tyrannical^  in  its 
way  as  anything  from  which  the  Puritans  had 
sought  escape  in  England.  "The  whole  country 
was   divided   into   parishes,   in   each   of   which  a 

1  Cf.  Tracy,  The  Great  Awakening,  p.  414.     "  The  revival  gave 
a  mortal  wound  to  parish  despotism.' ' 


210  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

church  was  organized  and  a  pastor  settled  accord- 
ing to  law,  with  whose  rights  none  was  allowed  to 
interfere.     The  minister  of  the  parish  was  held 
responsible  for  the  religious   instruction  of  its  in- 
habitants.    The  idea  grew  up  very  naturally  that 
those  who  held  him  thus   responsible   should  not 
put  themselves  under  other  teachers  without  his 
leave,  and  that  other  teachers  ought  not  to  derange 
his  plans  of  usefulness  by  breaking  in  upon  his 
parish  contrary  to  his  judgment.     The  pastor  had 
at  least  a  moral  right  to  control  the  giving  and  re- 
ceiving  of    religious    instructions  within  the  geo- 
graphical bounds  of  his  parish."  ^     For  this  eccle- 
siastical S3^stem  Edwards  had  a  genuine  respect 
and  affection.     Such  was  his  own  position  in  the 
town  of    Northampton.     This  feeling  partook  in 
some  measure  of  an  inherited  tradition.     Herein 
he  differed  from  Whitefield,  Davenport,  and  others, 
who   were  restrained  by  no  sympathy  with  New 
England   history,    and    no    desire   to   uphold   the 
interests   of   the   standing  order.      But  Edwards 
could  not  go  as  far  as  Chauncy  in  his  opposition 
to  the   itinerants.     He  evidently  recognizes  them 
as  having  a  place  and  a  work  to  do,  though  he 
cautions  them  as  liable  above  all  other  clergy  to 
spiritual  pride.     "  When  a  minister  is  greatly  suc- 
ceeded from  time  to  time,  and  so  draws  the  eyes 
of  the  multitude  upon  him,  and  he  sees  himself 
flocked  after  and  resorted  to  as   an   oracle,  and 
people  are  ready  to  adore  him  and  to  offer  sacri- 
1  Tracy,  p.  41G. 


CONDEMNATION  OF  LAY  EXUORTERS.       211 

fice  to  him,  as  it  was  with  Paul  and  Barnabas  at 
Lystra,  it  is  ahnost  impossible  for  a  man  to  avoid 
taking  upon  him  the  airs  of  a  master  or  some  ex- 
traordinary person."  If  Edwards  had  had  any 
such  experience  himseK,  he  had  resisted  the  temp- 
tations to  which  it  led.  But  the  description  might 
be  said  to  apply  word  for  word  to  Whitefield. 

If  Edwards  was  willing  to  recognize  the  itiner- 
ant clergy,  although  it  was  an  invasion  of  the  es- 
tablished order,  yet  at  this  point  he  sharply  draws 
the  line  and  will  go  no  further.  He  condemns 
severely  the  lay  exhorters  who  assume  the  clerical 
role.  In  the  same  connection  he  asserts  the  ne- 
cessity for  an  educated  ministry.  It  would  be  a 
calamity  at  all  times,  and  especially  at  that  time, 
if  men  without  a  liberal  education,  who  according 
to  the  rule  of  the  prophet  had  not  been  taught  to 
heep  cattle  from  their  youths  were  to  be  admitted 
to  the  work  of  the  ministry  on  the  ground  of  hav- 
ing had  remarkable  experiences.  These  would  be 
the  very  men  to  mislead  the  people  with  impidses, 
vain  imaginations,  and  such  like  extremes.  But 
the  time  had  come  when  such  as  these  were  called 
for  by  a  large  part  of  the  people.  The  lowly 
preaching  encouraged  by  the  Baptists  was  making 
inroads  on  the  favored  flocks  of  the '  educated 
clergy.  It  was  acceptably  received  by  many  as 
coming  closer  to  their  needs,  than  the  sermons 
which  according  to  right  reason  should  have  been 
the  most  effective.  In  this  respect  the  age  was 
changing :   an  ecclesiastical  democracy  was  assert- 


212  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ing  its  rights  and  needs,  and  in  its  presence  tlie 
Puritan  oligarchy  broke  down. 

The  ground  on  which  Edwards  condemns  the 
lay  exhorters  who  intrude  into  the  ministerial  field 
is  most  interesting  to  study,  for  at  this  point  Con- 
gregationalism and  Presbyterianism  should  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  later  movement  which  was  led 
by  Wesley.  Wesley  had  his  qualms  of  conscience 
upon  this  point,  springing  from  his  high -church 
principles ;  but  he  overcame  them,  and  lay  exhort- 
ing became  one  of  the  features  of  Wesleyan 
Methodism.  Edwards  was  also  a  high-churchman 
from  the  Puritan  point  of  view,  carrying  the  prin- 
ciple of  church  authority  to  almost  extreme  results. 
The  high  -  churchman,  whatever  his  ecclesiastical 
affiliation,  is  inclined  to  limit  the  divine  influence 
by  the  bounds  of  organization,  or  to  make  the 
spread  of  the  truth  keep  pace  with  the  extension 
of  the  institution.  The  ecclesiastical  idea  is  one 
to  which  Edwards  never  gave  much  attention  ;  but 
he  was  resting  upon  it  when  he  objected  to  admit- 
ting men  to  the  ministry  who  did  not  possess  a 
liberal  education,  simply  on  the  ground  of  their 
having  an  unusual  experience,  or  as  being  persons 
of  a  good  understanding.  On  this  point  he  ex- 
claims naively  that,  if  it  should  become  a  custom 
to  admit  such  persons  to  the  ministry,  how  many 
lay  persons  would  soon  become  candidates  for  the 
office !  He  doubts  not  but  he  has  become  ac- 
quainted with  scores  of  persons  that  would  have 
desired  it.     And  then  how  shall  we  know  where 


NECESSITY  OF  CHURCH  ORDER.  213 

to  stop  ?  In  other  words,  the  agencies  for  the  dif- 
fusion of  Christianity  might  surpass  the  scope  of 
the  institution  to  j^rovide  for  them. 

The  chief  ground  on  which  Edwards  deprecates 
the  lay  exhorters  is  the  necessity  of  ecclesiastical 
order.  He  speaks  of  order  as  among  the  most 
necessary  of  external  means  for  promoting  the 
spiritual  good  of  the  church.  He  denounces  the 
erroneous  principle  that  external  order,  in  matters 
of  religion  and  the  use  of  the  means  of  grace,  is 
a  thing  of  no  importance.  He  has  no  sympathy 
with  those  who  condemn  these  things  as  ceremo- 
nies and  dead  forms,  inasmuch  as  God  looks  only 
on  the  heart.  He  may  have  had  Hooker's  elo- 
quent words  in  mind  when  he  writes  that  order  is 
most  requisite  even  in  heaven  itself  and  among 
angelic  intelligences.  God  has  also  implanted  it, 
as  by  a  wonderful  instinct,  throughout  the  ranks 
of  the  animal  creation.  A  church  without  order 
is  like  a  city  without  walls,  lacking  the  means  for 
self-defence.  He  is  willing,  however,  to  admit 
that  some  measure  of  lay  exhorting  is  proper, 
and  may  be  a  duty,  if  it  does  not  overstep  its 
bounds  and  infringe  on  the  authority  of  the  clergy. 
There  is  a  sharp  distinction,  as  he  conceives,  be- 
tween preaching  and  what  he  prefers  to  call  Chris- 
tian conversation.  Let  laymen  confine  themselves 
only  to  the  latter.  The  main  characteristic  of 
preaching  is  authority.  Tliis  authority  only  min- 
isters should  exercise.  Ministers  are  clothed  with 
the  authority  of  Christ ;  they  alone  have  the  power 


214  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

to  preach  the  gospel  and  to  speak  in  His  name. 
They  are  commanded  to  speak,  rebuke,  and  exhort 
with  all  authority.  But  private  Christians,  icJio 
are  no  more  than  mere  brethren^  if  they  exhort, 
should  do  so  by  way  of  entreaty,  and  in  the  most 
humble  manner.  And  even  "  if  a  layman  does  not 
assume  an  authoritative  manner,  yet  if  he  forsakes 
his  proper  calling,  and  spends  his  time  in  going 
about  from  house  to  house  to  counsel  and  exhort, 
he  goes  beyond  his  line  and  violates  Christian 
rules."  For  teaching  is  the  business  of  the  clergy. 
All  are  not  apostles  or  prophets,  all  are  not  teach- 
ers. According,  then,  to  the  apostolic  command, 
He  that  teacheth  let  him  wait  on  teaching,  "  It 
will  be  a  very  dangerous  thing  for  laymen,  in  these 
respects,  to  invade  the  office  of  a  minister !  None 
ought  to  carry  the  ark  of  God  but  the  Levites 
only.  And  because  one  presumed  to  touch  the 
ark  that  was  not  of  the  sons  of  Aaron,  therefore 
the  Lord  made  a  breach  upon  them,  and  covered 
their  day  of  rejoicing  with  a  cloud  in  His  anger." 
No  strenuous  upholder  of  the  notion  of  an  ajjostolic 
succession  could  desire  more  explicit  language  than 
this. 

Such  was  Edwards'  devotion  to  the  principle  of 
church  authority  that  he  seems  almost  willing  to 
limit  the  spread  of  the  movement.,  if  there  is  dan- 
ger of  its  weakening  or  overthrowing  the  power  of 
the  clergy.  Mingled  with  these  strict  principles  of 
ecclesiastical  authority,  we  may  discern  ti'aces  of 
the  aristocratic  pride  which  marked  the  manner  of 


THE   UNCONVERTED  MINISTERS.  215 

the  ancient  Puritan  clergy.  It  was  right,  as  Ed- 
wards thought,  that  "  they  shoidd  have  the  out- 
ward appearance  and  show  of  authorit}^,  in  style 
and  behavior,  which  was  proper  and  fit  to  be  seen 
in  them."  Hence  he  was  inwardly  shocked  at  the 
way  in  which  the  "  meanest  of  the  people  "  took 
upon  them  to  criticise  the  most  eminent  ministers, 
sitting  in  judgment  upon  their  deficiencies,  or  pro- 
nouncing them  converted  or  unconverted.  So  far 
as  his  own  relations  with  the  ministers  were  con- 
cerned, he  had  solemnly  exhorted  and  adjured 
them  to  recognize  the  work  as  divine,  and  labor 
zealously  for  its  promotion.  If  this  impossible  ad- 
vice coidd  have  been  received,  there  would  have 
been  an  end  of  the  difficidty.  But  even  if  the 
ministers  did  not  accept  the  work  as  divine,  or  if 
they  were  really  unconverted,  yet  Edwards  does 
not  propose  that  the  mere  brethren  shall  be  the 
ones  to  take  them  to  task.  The  power  of  judging 
and  openly  censuring  others  should  be  in  the 
hands  of  particular  persons  or  consistories  ap- 
pointed for  the  purpose.  Upon  the  question 
whether  it  was  a  duty  for  people  to  desert  the 
ministry  of  those  who  unqualifiedly  and  openly 
condemned  the  revival,  —  upon  this  point  Edwards 
maintains  a  prudent  reticence.  For  himself  he 
remarks :  "I  should  not  think  that  any  person 
had  230wer  to  oblige  me  constantly  to  attend  the 
ministry  of  one  who  did  from  time  to  time  plainly 
pray  and  preach  against  this  work,  or  speak  re- 
proachfully of  it  frequently  in  his  public  perform- 


216  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ances,  after  all  Christian  metliods  had  been  used 
for  a  remedy  and  to  no  purj^ose."  ^  His  reserve 
upon  this  subject,  the  burning  question  of  the  day, 
may  be  construed  as  indicating  a  subordinate  sym- 
pathy, not  easily  reconciled  with  his  view  of  the 
importance  of  ecclesiastical  order. 

However  definite  and  rigid  may  have  been  Ed- 
wards' idea  of  conversion,  he  was  unwilling  for 
himself  to  pronounce  upon  the  condition  of  his 
fellow-ministers.  He  was  even  willing  to  admit 
that  they  might  be  in  a  state  of  grace,  and  yet  op- 
pose the  work  through  prejudice  or  other  reasons. 
His  moderation  was  in  strong  contrast  with  the 
over-zealous  converts  who  denounced  the  uncon- 
verted ministers  as  if  they  were  guilty  of  desecrat- 
ing the  church,  like  the  ancient  money-changers 
in  the  Jewish  temple.  These  zealots,  as  they  may 
be  called,  claimed  for  their  justification  the  words 
of  Christ,  that  He  came  to  send  not  peace,  but  a 
sword.  One  of  the  scourges  which  they  employed 
in  order  to  drive  the  unconverted  ministers  from 
the  temple  was  the  most  violent  imprecatory  lan- 
guage. Those  who  indulged  in  this  profane  vocab- 
ulary defended  its  use  on  the  ground  that  they 
only  said  what  was  true,  —  that  they  must  be  bold 
for  Christ's  sake,  and  not  mince  matters  in  His 
cause.  Edwards  complains  that  the  language  of 
common  sailors  is  introduced  among  Christian  peo- 

^  Compare  on  this  point  a  letter  of  Edwards  in  which  he  gives 
advice  as  to  how  to  deal  with  repentant  separatists.  Dwight, 
p.  204. 


METHODS   OF  THE  ZEALOTS.  217 

pie  under  the  cloak  of  high  sanctity.  "  The  words 
'  devil '  and  '  hell '  are  almost  continually  in  their 
mouths."  While  he  admits  that  every  kind  and 
degree  of  sin  is  justly  characterized  as  devilish, 
cursed,  hellish,  his  refined  nature,  as  well  as  his 
aristocratic  instincts,  revolted  within  him  when 
such  epithets  were  hurled  by  those  whom  he  calls 
the  meanest  of  the  people  against  the  most  emi- 
nent ministers  or  magistrates.  It  was  as  improper 
as  it  would  be  for  a  child  to  say  concerning  his 
parents,  "  that  they  commit  every  day  hundreds  of 
hellish,  damned  acts,  or  that  they  are  cursed  dogs, 
hell-hounds,  de\dls."  He  draws  a  distinction  be- 
tween characterizing  sin  in  the  abstract  in  these 
trutliful  terms  and  giving  them  a  concrete  applica- 
tion to  individuals.  But  the  zealots  made  no  such 
distinction.  Nor  is  it  greatly  to  be  wondered  at 
that,  when  such  a  vocabulary  was  thought  proper 
for  the  pulpit,  it  should  find  its  way  to  general  use 
among  the  j^eople. 

Edwards  was  hardly  in  a  position  which  could 
be  called  consistent,  when  he  advised  the  zealots  to 
drop  their  denunciation  of  the  unconverted  minis- 
ters. The  zealots  maintained  that  to  allow  them 
to  remain  in  their  parishes  was  a  "  bloqdy,  hell-peo- 
pling charity."  Edwards  thought  it  would  be  no 
such  dreadful  danger  if  they  were  left  undisturbed. 
It  almost  seems  as  if  a  change  were  passing  over  his 
mind,  —  as  if  he  were  condemning  his  own  practice. 
He  now  advises  the  ministers  to  be  careful  "  how 
they  discompose  and  ruffle  the  minds  of  those  that 


218  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

they  esteem  carnal  men,  or  how  great  an  uproar 
they  raise  in  the  carnal  world,  and  so  lay  blocks  in 
the  way  of  the  propagation  of  religion."  But  cer- 
tainly no  one  could  have  rufflled  the  carnal  mind 
more  than  Edwards  had  done,  as  in  his  sermon  at 
Enfield.  It  may  be  that  the  caution  now  exhibited 
is  no  evidence  of  ^  retractation.  It  was  a  peculiar- 
ity of  Edwards  that  he  becomes  at  times  so  intent 
upon  the, point  before  him,  as  to  leave  all  the  other 
pieces  upon  the  board  unguarded.  One  would  like 
to  think  that  the  intense  fervor  of  his  youth,  as 
well  as  his  inexperience  at  an  exceptional  moment, 
constitute  an  apology  for  those  features  of  his 
earlier  preaching  which  have  injured  his  memory. 


IV. 

TREATISE   ON  THE  RELIGIOUS   AFFECTIONS. 

When  Edwards  published  his  book  on  the  Re- 
ligious Affections,  in  1746,  the  Great  Awakening 
as  a  religious  movement  had  come  to  an  end.  To 
use  his  own  language,  the  devil  had  prevailed 
against  what  seemed  so  happy  and  so  promising 
in  its  beginning.  But  the  dust  and  the  smoke  of 
the  controversy  were  still  in  the  air ;  an  endless 
variety  of  opinions  prevailed  as  to  the  nature  of 
true  religion.  The  Religious  Affections  was  writ- 
ten as  a  series  of  sermons  in  the  years  1742  and 
1743,  following  immediately  the  meditations  which 


"  THE  RELIGIOUS  AFFECTIONS:'  2l9 

had  found  utterance  in  his  Thoughts  on  the  Re- 
vival. AYe  may  be  mistaken,  but  it  seems  as  if 
Edwards'  attitude  toward  the  revival  was  never 
again  quite  the  same  after  he  had  allowed  his  mind 
to  dwell  on  its  abuses.  It  must  have  pained  him 
beyond  measure  to  witness  his  ideal  dragged  as  it 
were  in  the  dust.  Under  these  circumstances  he 
did  what  so  many  other  lofty  souls  have  done 
in  similar  situations.  Rather  than  behold  his 
ideal  profaned,  he  sought  to  withdraw  it  beyond 
the  reach  of  viilgar  religionists,  —  to  make  it  a 
thing  so  difficult  to  attain  that  very  few  could  be 
certain  that  they  had  achieved  the  prize.  As  he 
looked  upon  the  variety  of  false  experiences,  the 
hypocrisies,  the  degeneration,  which  waitecl  upon 
the  revival,  he  was  chiefly  impressed  with  the 
words  of  Christ :  Strait  is  the  gate  and  narrow 
is  the  way  that  leads  to  life^  and  few  there  he  that 
find  it ;  or  those  other  memorable  words,  Many 
are  called^  hut  few  are  chosen. 

It  is  this  conviction  in  Edwards'  mind  which 
like  a  sad  undertone  pervades  the  Religious  Affec- 
tions, even  when  not  expressed,  that  has  given  the 
book,  in  the  eyes  of  many,  only  a  painful  interest. 
But  the  treatise  is  a  masterpiece  in  its  way,  —  a 
beautiful  and  authoritative  exposition  of  Clii'istian 
experience.  It  is  a  work  which  will  not  suffer  by 
comparison  with  the  work  of  great  teachers  in  the- 
ology, whether  ancient  or  modern.  It  fulfils  the 
condition  of  a  good  book  as  Milton  has  defined  it, 
—  "  the  precious  life-blood  of  a  master  spirit."     It 


-/ 


220  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

is  in  reality  Edwards'  Confessions,  as  much  as  if  it 
were  directly  addressed  to  Deity.  It  corresponds 
also  to  the  Consolation  of  Philosophy  in  the  midst 
of  failure  and  disappointment.  Some,  as  they 
have  read,  have  not  been  able  to  forget  the  dark 
background  in  Edwards'  mind,  —  the  distinction 
between  the  elect  and  the  non-elect,  the  destiny 
which  awaits  the  many  who  are  called  but  are  not 
chosen.  To  such  as  these,  the  Religious  Affec- 
tions is  a  book  which  they  must  avoid  as  they  hope 
to  preserve  their  faith  in  God.  The  subjectivity 
which  characterizes  it,  the  incessant  and  profound 
introversion,  the  variety  of  delusions  which  entan- 
gle a  soul  on  its  way  to  God,  —  these  only  add 
horror  to  the  situation  which  Edwards  may  have 
been  able  to  contemplate  with  serenity,  but  to 
which  the  modern  mind  is  unequal.  It  is  possible, 
however,  to  forget  the  negative  side  of  Edwards' 
theology  as  we  study  this  pure,  sublimated  ideal  of 
Christian  experience.  Let  the  book  be  taken  by 
itself,  as  if  by  some  anonymous  writer,  and  its  ex- 
cellence will  appear.  It  is  occupied  with  one  great 
motive,  —  to  distinguish  a  true  from  a  false  experi- 
ence, to  draw  the  picture  of  a  human  soul  which 
under  grace  has  become  worthy  of  union  with  God. 
The  Religious  Affections  is  Edwards'  answer  to 
the  question  which  confronted  him  in  his  youth  as 
to  the  nature  of  true  religion.  He  then  determined, 
as  is  recorded  in  his  Resolutions,  "  that  he  would 
look  most  nicely  and  diligently  into  the  opinions  of 
our  old  divines  concerning  conversion."     Such  was 


THE  SIGNS   OF   CONVERSION.  221 

liis  unconscious  confession  that  in  the  depth  of  his 
mind  there  lay  uncertainty  as  to  how  the  great 
reality  should  be  defined.  Although  his  book  on 
the  Affections  has  a  positive  and  constructive  pur- 
pose, yet  there  lingers  about  it  something  of  the 
controversial  spirit,  —  the  old  hostility  against  the 
Arminians  which  had  been  increased  by  the  revi- 
val. He  devotes  considerable  space  to  demonstrat- 
ing against  them  that  the  principal  part  of  relig-ion 
consists  in  the  affections  or  emotions.^  But  if  his 
dislike  to  Arminianism  remains  unchanged,  he  has 
also  seen  something  on  the  Calvinistic  side  which 
he  dislikes  still  more,  —  the  evangelical  hypocrisy 
to  which  the  revival  had  given  birth  was  a  greater 
evil  than  Arminian  legalism. 

The  second  part  of  his  book  is  devoted  to  show- 
ing that  the  signs  of  conversion,  upon  which  so 
great  stress  had  been  laid  by  many  in  the  Ke\dval, 
had  no  necessary  connection  with  true  religion.  It 
was  to  be  taken  as  no  sign  one  way  or  the  other 
that  the  religious  affections  were  greatly  stirred,  or 
that  they  produced  great  effects  upon  the  body. 
He  has  not  abandoned  his  former  attitude  on  this 

1  It  is  sometimes  difficult  to  determine  Edwards'  meaning 
wlien  he  speaks  of  the  affections,  for  under  this  term  he  includes 
also  the  will.  He  does  not  follow  the  modern  method  of  classifi- 
cation according-  to  which  the  facilities  are  divided  into  intellect, 
emotions,  and  will.  He  made  a  twofold  division,  the  first  of  which 
includes  the  intellectual  powers,  and  the  second  is  variously  named 
as  the  affections,  the  heart,  or  the  will.  It  is  evident  that,  in  the 
first  part  of  this  treatise  on  the  Religious  Affections,  it  is  the  emo- 
tions, as  we  should  call  them,  for  whose  recognition  in  religion  he 
is  contending. 


222  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

point,  tliat  the  action  of  God  on  the  spirit  may 
overpower  the  body,  but  he  now  condemns  those 
who  are  looking  for  hodily  effects  as  a  sign  of  the 
spirit's  action.  Persons  may  be  fervent  and  fluent 
in  talking  about  religion  and  yet  not  possess  the 
reality.  Texts  of  Scripture,  suddenly  and  unac- 
countably brought  to  the  mind,  are  no  evidence  of 
the  Spirit's  work.  Religious  affections  of  many 
kinds  may  exist  which  are  not  genuine,  but  only 
counterfeits  of  the  true.  There  may  have  been  a 
certain  order  in  the  phases  of  experience  by  which 
comforts  and  joys  may  follow  after  awakenings 
and  convictions,  and  yet  there  may  be  nothing  real  \ 
in  it  all.  People  may  spend  much  time  in  religion, 
and  be  greatly  moved  in  the  external  duties  of 
worship,  without  having  experienced  a  true  conver- 
sion. The  strong  sense  of  assurance  of  salvation 
possesses  in  itself  no  value.  Nor  can  anything  be 
concluded  from  the  circumstance  that  those  pro- 
fessing themselves  the  subject  of  gracious  experi- 
ences gain  the  love  and  win  the  confidence  of  true 
saints.  The  revival  had  demonstrated  how  vast 
was  the  field  for  delusion  and  mistake  in  judging 
of  the  condition  of  others.  In  a  word,  it  was  with 
the  things  of  religion  "as  it  is  with  blossoms  in  the 
spring.  There  are  vast  numbers  of  them  upon  the 
trees  which  all  look  fair  and  promising,  but  many 
of  them  never  come  to  anything.  And  many  of 
these,  that  in  a  little  time  wither  up  and  droj)  off 
and  rot  under  the  trees,  yet  for  a  while  look  as 
beautiful  and  gay  as  others." 


DEFINITION   OF  THE  SPIRITUAL.  223 

What,  then,  is  the  reality  ?  How  shall  the  spirit- 
ual as  distinct  from  the  natural  be  defined  ?  Or, 
in  Edwards'  words,  what  are  the  distinguishing 
signs  of  truly  gracious  and  holy  affections  ? 

The  divine  reality  is  asserted  to  be  something 
entirely  distinct  and  different  from  anything  that 
is  human.  The  human  and  the  divine  have  noth- 
ing whatever  in  common.  No  improvement  of 
natural  or  human  tendencies  ever  passes  by  slow 
stages  into  the  divine.  The  divine  is  different  in 
kind  from  the  human.  It  is  in  true  religion  as  if 
a  new  sense  were  imparted  utterly  diverse  from 
any  of  the  other  senses.  The  difference  between 
those  who  have  the  spiritual  gift  and  those  who 
have  it  not  is  to  be  compared  to  the  difference 
between  two  men,  one  of  whom  is  born  without  the 
natural  sense  of  taste,  to  whom  the  quality  of 
sweetness  is  unknown.  Edwards  does  not,  in  so 
many  words,  define  in  what  the  human  consists,  as 
distinct  from  the  divine.  We  might  infer  that  he 
regards  the  hmnan  as  if  it  were  the  absence  and 
the  negation  of  the  spiritual.  There  is  nothing  in 
his  system  to  prevent  the  human  from  being  iden- 
tified with  the  principle  of  evil.  He  does  not  deny 
that  there  is  much  which  is  beautiful  and  even 
admirable  in  human  nature,  —  it  may  bring  forth 
moral  fruits  of  a  high  order ;  it  may  have  graces 
and  charms,  and  even  possess  affections  which  may 
■^simidate  the  divine  influences.  But  these  may  be 
the  result  of  what  he  calls  the  common  influence 
of  the  Divine  Spirit,  —  that  influence  which  once 


224  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

breathed  on  the  face  of  the  natural  world  in  the 
chaos  of  the  creation.  The  common  influences  of 
the  Spirit  are  widely  diffused.  Edwards,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  in  philosophical  language  a  monist, 
and  in  one  sense  all  things  are  attributable  to  God. 
But  these  effects  which  are  wrought  by  the  com- 
mon influence  of  the  Spirit  may  be  also  wrought 
by  Satanic  agency.  Up  to  a  certain  point,  the 
magicians  of  Egypt  did  with  their  enchantments 
what  Moses  did  by  a  divine  power.  There  is  no 
redemptive  power  in  the  common  influences  of  the 
Spirit.  They  are  but  the  operation  of  an  omnipo- 
tent force  overcoming  the  human  spirit  from  with- 
out, for  certain  idterior  purposes  in  the  divine 
economy. 

In  those  who  are  truly  spiritual  the  Spirit  of 
God  does  not  merely  act  from  without,  as  an  in- 
fluence apart  and  not  their  own,  but  it  enters  into 
them  as  an  abiding,  indwelling,  integral  factor  of 
the  soul.  The  Spirit  of  God  even  lives  in  them 
as  in  its  peculiar  home,  the  bosom  of  God.  The 
Spirit  becomes  a  seed  or  spring  of  life,  making  the 
soul  a  partaker  of  the  beauty  of  God  and  the  joy 
of  Clu'ist.  That  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is 
Spirit.  But  this  language  reminds  him  that  he 
verges  upon  pantheism.  The  saints,  then,  do  not 
become  actually  partakers  of  the  divine  essence  in 
the  abominable  and  blasphemous  language  of  here- 
tics who   speak   of   being  "  Godded  with  God."  ^ 

^  Who  were  the  heretics  who  used  this  expression  which  Ed- 
wards quotes,  "  Godded  with  God  and  Christed  with  Christ"? 


POPULAR  CALVINISM.  225 

But  tlie  protest,  whicli  is  a  necessary  one,  having 
been  made,  Edwards  continues  to  use  language 
whicli  conveys  the  same  idea.  And  indeed  that 
is  his  meaning,  whether  he  owns  it  or  not,  — the 
saints  through  an  indwelling  Spirit,  which  is  the 
highest,  fullest  essence  of  Deity,  become  as  it  were 
one  with  God.  This  is  the  Spirit  that  bears  wit- 
ness with  our  spirit  that  we  are  the  children  of 
God.  The  bond  of  union  is  beheld  intuitively. 
The  saint  feels  and  sees  plainly  the  union  between 
his  soul  and  God.  The  Spirit  of  God  bearing  wit- 
ness with  our  spirit  must  not,  however,  be  taken 
to  mean  the  action  of  two  independent,  collateral 
witnesses.  The  human  spirit  is  passive  in  the 
affair,  receiving  only  and  declaring  the  witness  of 
the  divine. 

From  this  abstract  and  unethical  statement  of 
the  difference  between  the  spiritual  and  the  natu- 
ral, the  thought  moves  on  to  the  affirmation  that 
the  response  of  the  human  affections  is  to  the  ex- 
cellent and  amiable  nature  of  divine  things  as  they 
are  in  themselves,  and  not  as  they  have  any  rela- 
tion to  seK  or  self-interest.  Popular  CahHinism 
exhibited  a  tendency  toward  religious  selfishness, 
whose  manifestation  increased  in  proportion  to  the 
degree  of  religious  activity.  In  opposition  to  this 
tendency,  Edwards  maintained  that  affection  to- 

And  where  did  Edwards  come  across  it  ?  It  is  used  in  a  work  by 
Lowde,  New  Essays^  a  writer  engaged  in  controversy  with  Nor- 
ris,  the  author  of  the  Theory  of  the  Ideal  World,  and  a  disciple  of 
Malebranche.  Edwards'  use  of  it  may  point  to  some  familiarity 
with  the  controversy.     Cf.  Lyons,  Idealisme,  etc.,  p.  200. 


226  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ward  God  which  arises  from  self-love  is  a  mere 
product  of  the  natural  man,  having  in  it  nothing 
of  the  supernatural  or  divine.  The  heart  must 
fu'st  discern  that  God  is  lovely  in  Himself,  and 
then  follows  the  realization  of  what  the  love  of 
such  a  being  toward  man  must  be.  Some  might 
be  ready  to  allege  against  this  position  the  asser- 
tion of  St.  John,  We  love  Him  because  He  first 
loved  us,  as  if  God's  love  to  His  people  were  the 
first  foundation  of  their  love  to  Him.  Edwards' 
interpretation  of  the  passage  is  hardly  a  satisfac- 
tory one.  But  however  these  words  of  Scripture 
may  be  taken,  they  contain  no  argument  against 
the  truth  that  human  love  arises  primarily  from 
the  excellence  of  divine  things  as  they  are  in  them- 
selves, and  not  from  any  relation  they  have  to  hu- 
man interests.^ 

But  in  what  consists  the  excellency  and  loveliness 
of  the  divine  nature  ?  What  are  the  tests  by  which 
these  qualities  are  to  be  known  ?  Questions  of  tliis 
kind  we  need  not  fear  to  ask,  even  when  reading  a 
treatise  which  is  concerned  with  practical  piety ;  for 
to  Edwards  these  speculative  issues  are  of  supreme 
and  absorbing  interest.     We  may  follow  him  in 

1  Upon  this  point  Edwards'  thought  varied.  In  his  Notes  on 
the  Mind  he  held  that  love  to  God  was  based  upon  the  recognition 
of  the  divine  existence  apart  from  its  moral  excellence.  He 
again  maintained  this  view  in  his  Treatise  on  Virtue.  But  in  his 
Treatise  on  Grace  he  returns  to  what  he  had  asserted  in  the  Be- 
ligious  Affections,  that  the  foundation  of  delight  in  God  is  His 
own  perfection.  Beneath  these  variations  may  be  traced  diver- 
gent conceptions  of  the  nature  of  Deity. 


THE  MORAL  EXCELLENCE   OF  GOD.  227 

sincere  agreement  as  he  distingiiislies  between  the 
moral  attributes  of  God  and  His  natural  perfec- 
tions. These  last  include  His  infinite  greatness, 
power,  and  knowledge,  as  well  as  His  terrible 
majesty.  But  the  spiritual  beauty  of  the  divine 
nature  does  not  consist  primarily  in  these.  Even 
natural  men  may  have  the  perception  of  God's 
physical  perfections :  the  devils  also  may  believe 
and  tremble.  The  moral  excellence  of  Deity  is  in 
His  holiness.  And  this  word,  charged  with  a  sense 
of  remote  Hebrew  origin,  a  word  more  frequently 
used  than  defined,  exactly  how  much  and  what 
does  it  mean  ?  According  to  Edwards,  as  used  of 
God  it  includes  His  righteousness,  truth,  faithful- 
ness, and  goodness,  His  purity  and  His  beauty  as 
a  moral  agent.  Holiness  when  appHed  to  men 
comprehends  their  true  excellency  as  moral  beings ; 
it  includes  all  the  true  virtues  of  a  good  man,  Ms 
love  to  God,  liis  gracious  love  to  men,  his  justice, 
his  charity,  his  meekness  and  gentleness.  It  is 
of  these  things  that  it  is  said  :  Thy  loord  is  very 
pure,  therefore  thy  servant  loveth  it ;  the  laio  of 
the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting  the  soul ;  the  stat- 
utes of  the  Lord  are  right,  rejoicing  the  heart  ; 
the  commandment  of  the  Lord  is  pure,  enlighten- 
ing the  eyes. 

But  here  one  is  tempted  to  ask  whether  these 
moral  qualities,  which  are  included  in  the  general 
designation  of  holiness,  do  not  have  some  natural 
foundation  also  in  the  constitution  of  the  human 
soul.     Edwards  has  been  so  emphatic  in  declaring 


228  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

that  there  is  something  new  which  is  imparted  by 
the  Spirit  in  conversion,  something  entirely  dis- 
tinct from  all  that  is  human,  that,  when  we  come 
to  the  category  of  moral  excellences  as  they  exist 
in  God,  we  look  for  something  more  and  other 
than  he  furnishes.  Righteousness,  truth,  faitliful- 
ness,  goodness,  these  are  qualities  which  have  their 
root  in  human  nature,  of  which  the  germs  may  be 
discerned  in  those  who  would  not  be  recognized  as 
converted.  Edwards  apparently  feels  the  diffi- 
culty. But  in  conducting  his  controversy  with  the 
Arminians  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  admit  that 
any  traces  of  what  he  calls  the  gracious  affections 
should  be  found  in  the  unawakened.  There  must 
be  something  in  those  whom  God's  Spirit  has 
touched  wliich  is  wholly  new,  totally  unlike  what 
existed  in  them  before.  To  deny  this  would  be 
equivalent  to  denying  the  distinction  between  the 
converted  and  the  unconverted  ;  it  would  be  dis- 
owning the  truth  that  the  Sj^irit  dwells  in  the 
saints  in  some  unique  manner,  a  manner  direct 
and  immediate,  integral,  and  vital ;  and  the  final 
result  would  be  to  deny  another  fundamental  con- 
viction, —  that  the  divine  and  the  human  are  ut- 
terly diverse  and  incompatible  with  each  other. 

"  We  cannot  rationally  doubt  but  that  things  that  are 
divine,  that  appertain  to  the  Supreme  Being,  are  vastly 
different  from  things  that  are  human  ;  that  there  is  a 
Godlike,  higli,  and  glorious  excellency  in  them,  that  does 
so  distinguish  them  from  the  things  which  are  of  men 
that  the  difference  is  ineffable,  and  therefore  such  as,  if 


SPIRITUAL    INTUITION.  ^       229 

seen,  will  have  a  most  convincing,  satisfying  influence 
upon  any  one  that  they  are  what  they  are,  viz.,  divine." 

All  this  is  undoubtedly  true,  but  again  one  is 
tempted  to  ask  in  what  direction  lies  the  difference. 
Shall  we  be  content  to  say  that  the  difference  is 
ineffable  ?  But  that  would  be  abnost  tantamount 
to  affirming  that  it  is  incomprehensible  also.  Or 
shall  we  say  that  the  difference  between  God  and 
man  may  be  compared  in  kind  to  the  difference 
between  the  speech  of  some  great  literary  genius 
and  the  talk  of  a  little  child  ?  Edwards  uses  this 
comparison,  but  it  is  not  meant  to  express  his  en- 
tire thought.  He  falls  back  upon  the  statement, 
that  God  is  able  to  make  this  ineffable  difference 
manifest  to  those  whom  He  chooses  to  enlighten 
by  His  spirit.  He  now  reaffirms,  what  he  had  as- 
serted so  eloquently  in  his  sermon  on  The  Eeality 
of  Spiritual  Light,  that  in  truly  spiritual  men  there 
is  a  direct  intuitive  insight  into  divine  tilings  which 
not  only  convinces  of  their  reality,  but  discloses 
them  in  all  the  reach  of  their  ineffable  superiority 
to  human  things.  Not  only  are  the  prejudices  of 
the  heart  dissolved,  but  the  hindrances  to  the  pure 
speculative  reason  are  removed,  so  that  divine  truth 
stands  forth  revealed  in  all  its  beauty  and  splendor. 
It  is  not  by  miracles  or  external  evidences  that  this 
supreme  result  is  attained,  useful  as,  under  certain 
circumstances,  these  may  be.  But  even  to  ignorant 
men  and  children,  incapable  of  weighing  evidence 
or  appreciating  historical  research,  the  same  reve- 
lation may  be  made,  the  same  profound  spiritual 


230  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

intuition  may  disclose  the  reality  of  spiritual  light. 
And  here  for  the  present  Edwards  pauses  in  his 
treatment  of  a  point  possessing  vital  importance. 
We  are  haunted  with  a  painful  sense  of  unreahty 
in  the  result  of  his  efforts  to  escape  all  human 
limitations.  Unless  there  be  something  in  God 
which  is  very  like  what  is  most  distinctive  in  hu- 
manity, unless  the  human  has  its  deepest  root  in 
the  divine,  the  soul  must  be  baffled  in  its  search 
after  God,  sinking  back  in  despair,  as  if  its  high- 
est flight  had  disclosed  only  an  empty  void  in  the 
place  of  Deity.  That  Edwards  may  have  had 
some  suspicion  of  failure  there  is  reason  for  believ- 
ing. In  the  later  years  of  his  life  he  returned 
again  to  the  great  search  which  enthralled  his 
nature. 

Looking  at  the  immediate  influence  of  such  a 
treatise  as  this  on  the  New  England  churches,  it 
must  be  admitted  that  it  was  not  altogether  a 
healthy  one.  Edwards  had  now  begun  to  feel  a 
deep  dislike  to  the  prevailing  laxity  in  admitting 
to  the  membership  of  the  church,  which  had  been 
sanctioned  by  the  Half-way  Covenant.  But  the 
oj)posite  evil,  which  he  overlooked,  seems  almost 
as  great  as  that  against  which  he  was  contending. 
There  now  grew  up,  and  mainly  in  consequence 
of  Edwards'  teaching,  a  hesitation  about  "  joining 
the  church,"  on  the  ground  of  unfitness,  or  the 
lack  of  certainty  of  one's  conversion.  The  intro- 
versive  tendency  begat  religious  weakness  and 
vacillation.    The  phrase,  "  not  good  enough  to  join 


THE  INTROVERSIVE   TENDENCY.  231 

the  church,"  points  to  a  wrong  conception  of  the 
church  which  still  lingers  in  New  England,  and 
has  proved  an  obstacle  to  the  church's  growth.  It 
has  been  said  that  any  one  who  could  read  Ed- 
wards on  the  Affections,  and  still  believe  in  his 
own  conversion,  might  well  have  the  highest  assur- 
ance of  its  reality  !  But  how  few  they  were  who 
gained  this  assurance  may  be  inferred  from  the 
circumstance  that  Dr.  Hopkins  and  Dr.  Emmons, 
disciples  of  Edwards  and  religious  leaders  in  New 
England,  remained  to  the  last  uncertain  of  their 
conversion. 

It  has  been  impossible  in  this  brief  review  of 
the  Religious  Affections  to  give  any  adequate  con- 
ception of  the  religious  ideal  as  Edwards  portrays 
it.  The  defects  which  have  been  pointed  out  do 
not  diminish  from  its  beauty  and  value  as  an  ex- 
alted presentation  of  Christian  character.  The 
evil  which  it  may  have  wrought  was  surely  owing, 
to  some  extent,  to  the  nature  of  the  ground  into 
which  it  fell  as  seed.  The  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter,  as  Edwards  labors  at  great  length  to  show, 
is  that  Christian  character  and  practice  are  the 
only  tests  of  the  presence  of  the  divine  Spirit. 
Whatever  may  have  been  his  mistakes  in  the  ex- 
citement of  the  years  of  the  Great  Awakening,  he 
emerged  from  its  unhallowed  confusion  with  the 
conviction  that  in  the  life  alone  can  be  made  man- 
ifest the  sincerity  of  Christian  faith.  The  Reli- 
gious Affections  shoidd  be  read  as  we  read  the  Im- 
itation of  Christ,  making  allowance  for  its  defect 


232  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

in  severing  the  spiritual  from  the  world  of  human 
interests  and  realities.  If  we  can  supply  what 
seems  to  be  wanting  in  Edwards'  speculative  atti- 
tude, his  book  may  yet  be  recovered  from  the  ne- 
glect of  generations.  Works  on  topics  kindred  to 
this  are  not  uncommon,  but  for  the  most  part  they 
are  unredeemed  from  a  certain  tameness  and  com- 
monplace because  they  lack  the  combination  of  in- 
tellectual po^er  with  the  spiritual  imagination, 
such  as  Edwards  brought  to  the  treatment  of  his 
theme.  One  can  understand  how  an  enthusiastic 
disciple  as  well  as  descendant  of  Edwards  shoidd 
feel  impelled  to  write,  "  that,  were  the  books  on 
earth  destined  to  a  destruction  so  nearly  univer- 
sal that  only  one  besides  the  Bible  could  be  saved, 
the  church  of  Christ,  if  aiming  to  preserve  the  vol- 
ume of  the  greatest  value  to  man,  that  which  would 
best  unfold  to  a  bereaved  i^osterity  the  real  nature 
of  true  religion,  would  unquestionably  select  for 
preservation  the  treatise  on  the  Affections."  ^ 


V. 

"  UNION   IN   PRAYER."  —  DAVID   BRAINERD. 

In  the  year  1746  a  memorial  was  sent  from 
Scotland  inviting  the  people  and  the  churches  in 
America  to  combine  in  one  great  united  effort  to 
gain  the  blessing  of  God  ;  and  to  bring  about,  if  it 

1  Dwight,  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  223. 


THE  SCOTCH  MEMORIAL.  233 

were  His  will,  such  a  revival  of  religion  as  would 
usher  in  the  millennial  reign  of  Christ.     During 
two  years  previous  to  this  elate,  there  had  been 
united  prayer  for  this  purpose  in  many  of   the 
churches    in   Scotland  and  also  in  America.     It 
was  now  proposed  to  give  to  this  informal  move- 
ment a  more  organic  and  universal  character,  and 
to  this  end  the  memorial  signed  by  twelve  Scotch 
clergymen  had   been   circidated    in  this  country. 
The  proposal  commended  itself  to  Edwards.     He 
was  now  in  somewhat  intimate  relations  with  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  carrying  on  a  correspondence 
with  several  of  its  leading  ministers.     His  books, 
which  had  been  republished  there,  had  gained  him 
great  renown  among  the  stricter  school  of  Calvin- 
ists.     It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  a  proposition 
coming  from  Scotland  should  arouse  his  interest, 
if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  he  saw  reflected 
in  it  the  extension  of  his  own  peculiar  influence. 
The  method   by  which  the  great  end  was  to  be 
sought  was  the  setting  apart  a  certain  time,  on  Sat- 
urday evening  and  Sunday  morning  of  each  week, 
to  be  spent  in  prayer,  and  also  the  first  Tuesday 
in  each  quarter  of  the  year.     Individuals  were  in- 
vited to  pray  separately  at  these  stated  seasons,  as 
well  as  in  concert,  where  it  was  practicable.     In 
order  to  further  the  movement,  Edwards  preached 
on  the  subject  to  his  congregation,  and  out  of  his 
sermons  there  grew  another  treatise,  published  in 
1747,  entitled  Union  in  Prayer.     It  is  a  book  of 
less  interest  and  value  than  those  we  have  been  re- 


234  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

viewing  ;  but  it  has  importance  as  presenting  his 
views  on  the  subject  of  prayer,  as  also  a  glimpse 
of  his  attempt  at  a  philosophical  interpretation  of 
history. 

Edwards  had  been  disappointed  in  the  results  of 
the  Great  Awakening  in  America.  It  had  subsided 
almost  as  quickly  as  it  had  arisen,  leaving  in  its 
train  a  crop  of  evils  from  which  the  churches  were 
still  suffering.  The  degree  of  his  disappointment 
may  be  measured  by  the  high  expectations  in  which 
he  had  indulged  as  to  the  probable  extension  of 
the  movement  until  it  should  bring  the  world, 
even  in  his  own  lifetime,  into  the  love  and  obedi- 
ence of  Christ.  At  one  time  he  was  so  sanguine 
of  this  vast  achievement,  that  he  indulged  at 
some  length  in  a  fanciful  speculation  in  regard  to 
America  as  the  place  indicated  by  prophecy  where 
the  Christ  spiritual  was  to  be  reborn.  To  the  old 
world  had  been  assigned  the  honor  of  bringing 
forth  the  historical  Christ ;  to  the  new  world  it 
would  belong  to  present  the  Christ  mystical,  gen- 
erated after  a  higher  birth,  as  America's  offering 
in  return  for  what  it  had  received.^  This  vision 
faded  away,  not  to  appear  again.  But  he  still  be- 
lieved as  firmly  as  ever  that  there  was  a  day  in 
waiting,  for  the  church,  and  it  might  be  near,  when 
the  glory  of  God  should  be  made  manifest  as  it 
had  not  been  since  the  beginning  of  Christianity, 
—  a  time  when,  in  the  language  of  prophecy,  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  should  cover  the  earth  as  the 

1   Thoughts  on  the  Eevival,  pp.  313,  ff. 


DELAY   OF   THE  D  J  VINE   MANIFESTATION.    235 

waters  cover  tlie  sea.     His  faith  in  the  coming  of 
that  day  sustained  him  in  the  midst  of  disappoint- 
ment.    These  movements  that  had  come  and  gone, 
ending  in  seeming  f aihire,  might,  after  all,  be  fore- 
runners of  a  greater  movement ;  just  as  the  wind, 
the  earthquake,  and  the  fire  on  Horeb  were  fore- 
runners which  heralded  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 
He  does  not  attempt  to  explain  the  wayi  of  God 
in  thus  delaying  the  manifestation  of  His  power 
and  presence.     But  the  mystery  of  the  contrast 
between  the  present  and  the  future  impresses  his 
imagination.     The  time  that  is  to  be,  will  be  the 
chief  time  for  the  bestowment  of  the  divine  bless- 
ing.    Before  this  the  Sjnrit  of  God  is  given  hut 
very  sparingly  and  hut  few  are  saved.      But  that 
future  time  is  represented  in   Scripture  as  emi- 
nently the  elect  season,  the  accepted  time,  and  the 
day  of  salvation.     The  comparatively  little  saving 
good  which  there  now  is  in  the  world,  as  the  fruit 
of  Christ's  redemption,  is  granted,  as  it  were,  by 
way  of  anticipation,  —  glimpses  of  the  light  before 
the  dawning  of  the  day,  or  as  the  first-fruits  are 
gathered  in  before  the  harvest. 

But  could  the  coming  of  such  a  day  as  Edwards 
looked  for  be  accelerated  by  prayer  ?  If  its  time 
had  been  determined  in  the  secret  counsels  of 
God,  could  prayer,  however  united  or  protracted, 
change  the  divine  will  and  hasten  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  divine  purpose?  Edwards  did  not 
think  so.  He  had  already  put  himself  on  record 
to  the  effect  that  the  object  of  prayer  is  not  to 


236  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

change  God's  will,  but  suitably  to  affect  our  own 
hearts,  and  so  prepare  us  to  receive  the  blessings 
we  ask.^  Indeed,  this  view  of  prayer,  as  mainly  if 
not  exclusively  subjective  in  its  effect,  was  the  only 
view  compatible  with  Edwards'  idea  of  Deity. 
Nor  does  he  anywhere  contradict  formally  this 
emphatic  statement  of  his  belief.  His  book  on 
Union  in  Prayer  shows  him  presenting  the  motives 
which  should  induce  people  to  pray  for  a  great 
specific  purpose.  He  meets  objections  which  are 
presented  as  if  they  came  from  others,  but  it  is 
more  probable  that  he  was  here  as  elsewhere  solv- 
ing the  difficulties  which  his  own  mind  suggested. 
It  is  proper  to  pray  for  the  general  outpouring  of 
the  divine  Spirit  on  the  world,  because  there  are 
many  signs  that  such  an  event  is  near,  —  so  very 
near  that  before  the  appointed  seven  years  of 
prayer  are  ended,  the  day  determined  by  divine 
decree  may  be  ushered  in.  If  there  should  be  a 
universal  movement  toward  prayer,  it  would  be  an 
evidence  that  God  had  also  decreed  the  prayer  as 
the  condition  of  fulfilling  His  decree.  "  When- 
ever the  time  comes  that  God  gives  an  extraordi- 
nary spirit  of  prayer,  then  the  fulfilling  this  event 
is  nigh.  God,  in  His  wonderful  grace,  is  pleased 
to  represent  Himself,  as  it  were,  at  the  command 
of  His  people,  with  regard  to  mercies  of  this 
nature."  But  though  Edwards  comes  as  near  as 
he  can  to  the  popidar  notion  regarding  prayer,  he 

1  Beligious  Affections,  vol.  iii.  p.  15;  cf.,  also,  vol.  ii.  p.  514, 
"  On  the  Decrees." 


SUBJECTIVE  DOCTRINE   OF  PRAYER.        237 

is  not  willing  to  conceal  his  conviction.  Again 
we  have  the  subjective  doctrine  of  prayer  clearly 
affirmed  withc^nt  qualification  :  "  'though  it  woidd 
not  be  reasonable  to  suppose  that  merely  such  a 
circumstance  of  prayer,  as  many  people's  praying 
at  the  same  time,  will  directly  have  any  influence 
or  prevalence  with  God  to  cause  Him  to  be  the 
more  ready  to  hear  prayer,  yet  such  ^  circum- 
stance may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  have  in- 
fluence on  the  minds  of  men."  And  this,  it  is 
argued,  is  a  reason  and  justification  for  the  uni^n 
in  prayer  which  has  been  ]3roposed.^ 

Among  the  reasons  assigned  for  believing  that 
the  day  is  near  when  the  Spirit  shall  be  poured 
out  from  on  high  are  God's  recent  dealings  with 
New  England  in  its  political  relations,  which  are 
taken  as  an  evidence  of  His  interest  in  the  land 
and  its  people,  as  if  He  were  preserving  them  for 
some  great  consummation.  The  deliverances 
which  have  been  wrought  during  the  French  war, 
"  God  succeeding  us  against  Cape  Breton  and  con- 
founding the  armada  from  France  last  year,"  these 
wonderful  works  of  God  are  only  to  be  paralleled 
by  His  works  of  old  in  the  days  of  Moses,  Joshua, 
or  Hezekiah.  And  it  is  worthy  to  be  noted,  he  re- 
marks, that  "  God  sent  that  great  storm  on  the 

1  A  sermon  of  Edwards,  vol.  iv.  p.  561,  entitled  The  Most  High 
a  Prayer-hearing  God,  though  intended  as  a  popular  inducement 
to  the  practice  of  prayer,  contains  nothing  at  variance  with  the 
views  presented  above.  Edwards  was  cautious,  it  would  seem, 
lest  he  should  encourage  the  notion  that  prayer  may  change  the 
will  of  Go<i»    Cf.,  also,  vol.  iv.  p.  105. 


238  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

fleet  of  our  enemies  tlie  last  year,  that  finally  dis- 
persed and  utterly  confounded  tliem,  and  caused 
tliem  wholly  to  give  over  their  designs  against  us, 
the  very  night  after  our  day  of  public  fasting  and 
prayer  for  our  protection  and  their  confusion." 

These  deliverances  are  the  more  memorable  be- 
cause in  other  respects,  and  so  far  as  the  condition 
of  the  church  is  concerned,  the  present  is  a  time 
of  great  apostasy  and  confusion.  From  a  pam- 
phlet recently  j^rinted  in  London,  he  has  learned 
that  luxury  and  wickedness  of  iibnost  every  kind 
is  well-nigh  come  to  the  utmost  extremity  in  Eng- 
land. The  Church  of  Scotland  has  lost  much  of 
her  glory,  greatly  departing  from  her  ancient 
purity  and  excellent  order.  Lamentable  also  is 
the  moral  and  religious  state  of  these  American 
colonies,  and  of  New  England  in  particular.  The 
kind  of  religion  which  was  first  professed  and  prac- 
tised has  grown  out  of  credit.  Fierce  and  violent 
contentions  abound.  The  gospel  ministry  is  grow- 
ing into  contempt.  Church  discipline  is  weak- 
ened, and  ordinances  are  disregarded.  Wild  and 
extravagant  notions,  gross  delusions  of  the  devil, 
and  strange  practices,  prevail  under  the  pretexts 
of  great  spirituality,  or  of  zeal  against  formalism. 
The  following  passage  is  interesting  as  giving  Ed- 
wards' view  of  his  own  time.  To  the  minds  of 
many,  it  would  apply  mutatis  mutandis  to  our  own 
age.  After  alluding  to  the  discoveries  in  the  arts 
and  sciences,  and  to  the  learned  and  elaborate  trea- 
tises written  in  defence  of  Christianity,  in  which  it 


THE  EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY.  239 

seemed  to  him  that  the  eighteenth  century  surpassed 
anything  seen  in  the  world  before,  he  remarks :  — 

"  It  is  an  age,  as  is  supposed,  of  great  light,  freedom 
of  thought,  and  discovery  of  truth  in  matters  of  religion, 
and  detection  of  the  weakness  and  bigotry  of  our  ances- 
tors, and  of  the  folly  and  absurdity  of  the  notions  of 
those  that  were  accounted  eminent  divines  in  former 
generations  ;  which  notions  it  is  imagined,  did  destroy 
the  very  foundations  of  virtue  and  religion  and  enervate 
all  precepts  of  morality,  and  in  effect  annul  all  differ- 
ence between  virtue  and  vice  ;  and  yet  vice  and  wicked- 
ness did  never  so  prevail  like  an  overflowing  deluge. 
It  is  an  age  wherein  those  mean  and  stingy  principles, 
as  they  are  called,  of  our  forefathers,  which  as  is  sup- 
posed deformed  reHgion  and  led  to  unworthy  thoughts 
of  God,  are  very  much  discarded  and  grown  out  of 
credit,  and  supposed  more  free,  noble,  and  generous 
thoughts  of  the  nature  of  religion  and  of  the  Christian 
scheme  are  entertained ;  but  yet  never  was  an  age 
wherein  religion  in  general  was  so  much  despised  and 
trampled  on,  and  Jesus  Christ  and  God  Almighty  so 
blasphemed  and  treated  with  open,  daring  contempt."  ^ 

But  the  argument  that  is  based  upon  the  con- 
viction that  the  world  is  evil,  and  therefore  that 
the  time  is  waxing  late,  might  easily  be  pushed 
too  far.  And  here  Edwards  separated  himself 
from  many  contemporary  theologians.  It  was  an 
opinion  prevailing  at  the  time  when  the  proposal 
was  made  for  united  prayer,  that  the  coming  of 
Christ's  kingdom  must  be  preceded  by  extreme 
calamity  to  the  church  of  God,  and  even  the  tem- 
^  Union  in  Prayer,  p.  459. 


240  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

porary  prevalence  of  Anticliristian  enemies  against 
her.  Such  a  feeling  must  of  course  make  union  in 
prayer  impossible.  To  hasten  the  coming  of  the  day 
of  Christ  would  be  to  involve  those  who  prayed,  their 
children,  and  all  that  they  held  dear,  in  a  terrible 
time,  a  time  of  extreme  suffering  and  of  dreadful 
persecution.  Edwards  devoted,  therefore,  a  large 
part  of  his  work  on  Union  in  Prayer  to  the  refuta- 
tion of  this  obnoxious  belief.  His  argument  is 
drawn  from  the  prophetical  books  of  the  Bible, 
from  obscure  hints  in  the  Book  of  Daniel  and  the 
Book  of  Revelation,  which  he  interprets  in  the 
light  of  history  as  their  fulfilment.  Into  his  ar- 
gument it  is  not  necessary  to  enter.  The  fashion 
of  it  has  passed  away.  But  the  conclusion  which 
he  reached  was  a  service  rendered  to  his  own  and 
succeeding  ages.  Much  as  he  felt  at  liberty  to 
denounce  his  own  time  for  its  ungodliness,  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  admit  so  irrational  a  fore- 
boding, which  found  no  countenance  in  history,  and 
which  must  neutralize  every  effort  for  the  exten- 
sion of  Christian  work.  The  argument  from 
Scripture  was  but  incidental  to  his  own  good  judg- 
ment, which  uttered  its  verdict  in  advance. 

One  other  objection  against  the  Scotch  Memorial 
deserves  notice  as  illustrating  Edwards'  attitude 
toward  a  stereoty|3ed  Puritanism  inherited  from 
the  conflicts  of  the  sixteenth  century.  There  were 
those  who  might  condemn  the  observation  of  stated 
seasons  for  united  prayer,  on  the  ground  that  it 
was  only  reintroducing  the  principle  of  the  Chris- 


PURITAN    WORSHIP.  241 

tian  Year  as  it  had  been  retained  in  the  Church  of 
Enghmd.  To  do  this  would  be  doing  what  men 
had  no  right  to  do  ;  what  eminent  Christians  and 
divines  had  protested  against :  it  was  adding  to 
God's  institutions,  it  laid  a  bond  upon  men's  con- 
sciences, and  it  naturally  tended  to  superstition. 
Edwards  admits  the  force  of  this  argument.  He 
tacitly  condemns  the  Chrrstian  Year  as  an  unwar- 
rantable burden  of  human  appointment,  which,  in 
proportion  as  it  is  regarded  as  sacred,  is  productive 
of  superstition.  But  having  made  this  admission 
he  looks  at  the  other  side  of  the  question,  and 
finds  that  much  which  is  already  practised  in  the 
customary  Puritan  worship  has  no  authority  from 
Scripture.  The  only  safeguard  lies  in  not  regard- 
ing these  things  as  sacredly  fixed  as  if  by  divine 
law.  Hence  there  is  no  objection  to  stated  seasons 
for  prayer,  if  this  caution  be  observed,  any  more 
than  to  an  annual  fast  day.  And  it  is  added  that 
the  Scotch  memorializers  have  been  particular  to 
make  it  apparent  that  it  was  not  their  intention  to 
commit  the  Puritan  churches  to  any  superstitious 
entanglements  in  sacred  times  or  seasons.  The 
Puritans  were  still  sensitive,  two  hundred  years 
after  their  origin,  to  anything  which  approximated 
the  worship  of  the  English  Church. 

Edwards  seems  to  share  in  the  same  prejudice. 
The  objection  is  apparently  one  of  his  own  raising. 
And  yet  one  cannot  avoid  the  feeling-  that  he  had 
not  so  great  a  repugnance,  after  all,  to  this  or  sim- 
ilar innovations.     Anything  which  made  the  wor- 


242  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ship  of  God  seem  real  and  glorious  he  was  pre- 
pared to  welcome.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the 
conservatism  of  a  Puritan  people  holding  tena- 
ciously to  their  traditions,  it  is  not  impossible  that 
he  would  have  ventured  some  innovations  of  his 
own.  It  was,  for  example,  one  of  the  Puritan  ways 
to  reduce  the  frequency  of  celebrating  the  Lord's 
Supper.  In  the  Church  of  Scotland  semi-annual 
communions  had  taken  the  place  of  the  old  order 
of  the  mass  which  every  Sunday  had  reminded  the 
worshipper  of  the  benefits  of  the  death  of  Christ, 
in  however  distorted  or  perverse  a  manner.  On 
this  point  Edwards'  admissions  are  significant. 
He  laments  that  the  revival  had  not  resulted  in  an 
increase  of  the  ministrations  of  the  Lord's  Supper; 
that  God's  people  should  not  more  frequently  com- 
memorate the  dying  love  of  their  Redeemer  than 
they  have  been  accustomed  to  do.  It  was  evident 
from  Scripture  that  the  primitive  Christians  kept 
the  memorial  on  every  Lord's  day ;  and  so  he 
believes  it  will  be  again  with  the  church  of  Christ 
in  the  days  that  are  approaching.  This  desire  for 
more  frequent  celebrations  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
differentiates  him  from  the  Quaker,  the  spirit  of 
whose  theology  he  had  approjDriated.  His  philo- 
sophical and  spiritualistic  idealism  seemed  to  de- 
mand some  external  manifestation,  as  if  it  needed 
to  be  made  more  tangible  and  real  by  the  outward 
visible  sign."  There  are  traces  in  his  writings 
which  show  that  he  was  not  insensible  to  the  pomp 
and  ceremony  of  worship  :  only  given  the  inward 


DAVID  BRAINERD.  243 

spirit,  and  the  outward  form  could  not  be  too 
beautiful  or  glorious.  But  lie  would  not  have  re- 
versed the  method,  —  an  elaborate  or  sensuous 
ritual  as  a  means  of  spiritual  hf e. 

We  have  now  reached  a  point  in  the  biography 
of  Edwards  where  it  becomes  necessary  to  sum  up 
briefly  those  remoter  consequences  of  the  revival, 
which  were  imperfectly  understood  at  the  time, 
but  which  were  big  with  seeming  disaster  to  the 
fortunes  of  Edwards  and  his  family.  But  at  this 
point  we  must  also  pause  for  a  moment  in  order  to 
introduce  the  story  of  David  Brainerd,  —  an  im- 
portant episode  in  the  last  years  of  Edwards'  pas- 
torate at  Northamj)ton. 

David  Brainerd's  short  life  filled  a  large  place 
in  the  consciousness  of  the  stricter  Calvinistic  sort 
during  the  last  century;  nor  has  the  memory  of 
his  devoted  career  entirely  faded  out  in  our  own 
day.  We  may  think  that  the  significance  attach- 
ing to  his  name  is  an  exaggerated  one,  but  the  life 
of  Edwards  would  be  incomplete  without  at  least 
an  allusion  to  him. 

Edwards  first  met  him  in  1743  at  New  Haven, 
where  he  had  gone  to  attend  the  Commencement 
exercises  of  Yale  College.  Some  two  years  before, 
Brainerd,  wliile  then  a  member  of  the  college,  had 
expressed  himself  disrespectfully,  not  to  say  con- 
temptuously, of  the  religious  character  of  certain 
members  of  the  faculty.  He  had  said  of  them,  in 
fact,  that  they  possessed  no  more  religion  than  the 


244  THE    GREAT  AWAKENING. 

chair  on  which  he  was  leaning.  This  language 
having  been  reported  to  the  faculty  Brainerd  had 
been  expelled.  He  had  now  returned  to  New 
Haven  when  his  class  was  graduating,  in  the  hope, 
by  humble  confession  of  his  fault,  that  he  might 
receive  his  degree.  Great  efforts  were  made  to 
induce  the  faculty  to  accede  to  his  petition.  The 
Rev.  Aaron  Burr,  of  New  Jersey,  came  on  to  New 
Haven  for  the  purpose  of  using  his  influence  in 
his  behalf.  Edwards  also  was  one  among  others 
who  attempted  to  make  reconciliation  between  the 
offended  teachers  and  their  indiscreet  pupil.  But 
the  degree  was  refused,  nor  was  it  ever  accorded  to 
him.  It  was  this  incident  which  first  drew  out  the 
sympathy  of  Edwards  for  one  with  whom  he  after- 
wards became  intimately  associated.  Into  the 
merits  of  the  case  we  do  not  propose  to  enter. 
Brainerd  seems  to  have  behaved  well  at  the  time 
he  was  seeking  his  degree.  He  made,  says  Ed- 
wards, "  a  truly  humble  and  Christian  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  fault."  When  his  degree  was  refused 
"  he  manifested  no  disappointment  or  resentment." 
It  must  be  remembered  that  he  was  at  this  time 
a  young  man  with  a  reputation  for  high  religious 
attainments,  and  he  came  to  New  Haven  from  a 
remote  settlement  known  as  Kaunameek,  what 
Edwards  calls  a  howling  wilderness,  where  lie  was 
meeting  with  unexampled  success  as  a  missionary 
to  the  Indians.  Under  ordinary  circumstances  it 
would  have  seemed  only  natural  if  the  authorities 
had  overlooked  his  offence,  and    had  granted  to 


EDWARDS'   INTEREST  IN  BRAINERD.  245 

such  an  exemplary  youth,  who  represented  the 
fervors  of  the  revival,  the  degree  which  he  desired 
in  order  to  enhance  his  usefulness.  But  these  were 
not  ordinary  circumstances.  The  college  had 
taken  its  stand  against  the  evils  and  abuses  which 
the  Great  Awakening  had  generated.  Brainerd 
was  a  typical  instance  of  that  spirit  of  censorious- 
ness  which,  following  the  New  Lights,  as  they 
were  called,  was  breaking  up  the  harmony  and 
unity  of  the  New  England  churches.  The  offence 
was  therefore  a  serious  one,  which  could  not  easily 
be  forgiven  without  conveying  the  appearance  of 
indifference  towards  the  evils  of  separatism. 

On  the  other  side  there  was  also  much  to  be 
said,  and  more  that  was  deeply  felt.  Brainerd  be- 
came, as  it  were,  a  living  martyr  for  the  cause  with 
which  the  college  at  New  Haven  had  little  or  no 
sympathy.  His  case  became  notorious  throughout 
the  colonies,  lending  a  fictitious  interest  to  his 
name  ;  and  the  interest  was  deepened  and  made 
abiding  by  his  early  death  when  only  thirty  years 
of  age.  He  was  an  ardent,  enthusiastic  soid,  mov- 
ing with  great  impetuosity  in  whatever  he  under- 
took, one  whose  zeal  for  religion  was  even  consum- 
ino-  his  life.  Four  years  after  the  degradation 
which  he  had  received  at  New  Haven  (1747),  he 
came  again  into  New  England,  an  invalid  in  the 
last  stages  of  consumption.  He  was  now  invited 
by  Edwards  to  take  up  his  abode  in  his  own  house. 
His  story  from  this  time  is  an  extremely  painful 
one.     The  progress  of  his  disease  is  recorded  by 


246  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Edwards,  who  was  watching  his  case  with  a  morbid 
interest.  There  must  have  been  something  in 
Brainerd  of  high  excellence  that  he  should  have 
won  the  confidence  and  affection  of  Edwards.  But 
there  is  so  much  that  is  repellant  in  the  situation 
that  we  gladly  pass  over  what  appears  to  belong 
to  a  morbid  psychology  rather  than  to  a  genuine 
religious  experience.  Edwards  professed  himself 
as  thankful  for  the  privilege  of  having  conversed 
so  freely  with  Brainerd  in  his  last  days.  It  was 
as  if  he  were  permitted  to  gain  a  new  and  striking 
evidence  of  the  reality  of  the  religious  affections. 
He  was  accumulating,  tlirough  Brainerd's  religious 
experience  on  his  death-bed,  fresh  confirmation  of 
the  truth  of  his  own  theories  as  against  Arminians 
and  deists.  As  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Edwards,  he 
was  making  an  intellectual  study  of  Brainerd's 
rapturous  condition,  not  suspecting  at  all  that  he 
might  be  watching  in  some  measure  the  effects  of 
his  own  influence.  For  Brainerd's  confessions  so 
entirely  accord  with  all  that  Edwards  had  taught 
as  high  and  desirable  in  a  true  conversion,  that 
one  cannot  avoid  the  conclusion  that  he  reflected 
unconsciously  the  effects  of  his  association  with  his 
friend  and  master. 

But  the  painful  interest  of  Brainerd's  case  does 
not  stop  here.  There  must  have  been  something 
of  an  attractive  spell  in  the  man  who  could  win 
the  affections  of  a  daughter  of  Jonathan  Edwards. 
This  daughter,  his  second  child,  whose  name  was 
Jerusha,  and  who   had   then  attained  the  age  of 


BRAINERD'S  LIFE  AND   DIARY.  247 

seventeen,  was  allowed  to  become  the  constant  at- 
tendant upon  the  invalid.  She  travelled  with  him 
on  a  visit  which  he  made  to  Boston,  and  returned 
with  him  to  Northampton.  Edwards  speaks  of 
her  as  the  flower  of  the  family,  and  as  a  person 
of  much  the  same  spirit  with  Brainerd.  But  this 
betrothal  was  a  strange  one,  with  an  unnatural, 
unearthly  character.  For  nineteen  weeks  she  de- 
voted herself  to  attending  Brainerd  in  his  illness. 
She  delighted  in  the  task,  because  she  looked  on 
him  as  an  eminent  servant  of  Christ.  And  yet 
even  her  young  heart  must  have  been  chilled  on 
its  human  side,  when,  shortly  before  his  death, 
Brainerd,  in  taking  his  leave  of  her,  spoke  of  his 
love  for  her,  but  also  added  that  it  was  his  brother 
John  for  whom  he  had  the  greatest  affection  of 
any  person  on  earth.  She  filled  only  a  subordi- 
nate place  in  his  heart,  and  yet  was  to  offer  up 
her  young  life  as  a  sacrifice  to  liis  service.  Only 
a  few  months  after  his  death  she  was  called  away, 
leaving  an  aching  void  in  her  father's  heart. 

Edwards  preached  the  funeral  sermon  of  Brain- 
erd, and  afterwards  edited  his  diary,  adding  to  it 
observations  and  reflections  of  his  own.  It  was  this 
life  of  Brainerd  by  Edwards  which  is  said  to  have 
been  the  means  of  the  conversion  of  the  famous 
missionary,  Henry  Martyn.  Credit  for  the  mission- 
ary spirit,  which  was  so  rare  a  gift  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  should  be  freely  accorded  to  David  Brain- 
erd. But  the  story  of  liis  connection  with  Ed- 
wards resembles  the  case  of  Sterling  and  Carlyle. 


248  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

In  each  instance  there  is  the  history  of  a  human 
soul,  which,  if  we  can  only  see  it  so,  is  always  in- 
teresting, wherever  we  may  look  at  it.  But,  as  in 
the  case  of  Sterling,  there  was  no  special  reason 
for  furnishing  a  biography.  Private  motives  im- 
pelled Carlyle  to  the  task.  Edwards  was  moved 
by  a  desire  to  furnish  irresistible  evidence  against 
the  Arminians  or  deists,  who  denied  the  validity  of 
religious  experiences. 


VI. 


DISMISSAL    FROM    NORTHAMPTON.  —  "QUALIFICA- 
TIONS  FOR   FULL   COMMUNION." 

Edwards  may  have  found  support  and  refresh- 
ment in  his  association  with  Brainerd  as  with  a 
kindred  spirit.  And  of  such  consolation  he  stood 
in  need,  for  he  was  now  approaching  the  catas- 
trophe of  his  life.  The  results  of  the  Great  Awak- 
ening were  to  prove  bitter  fruit  to  the  pastor  at 
Northampton  and  his  household.  The  time  was 
at  hand  when,  as  Mrs.  Edwards  had  contemplated 
among  the  possible  contingencies  of  life,  they  were 
to  be  driven  forth  from  the  town,  when,  after  years 
of  devoted  service,  the  unrivalled  preacher,  the 
theologian  who  had  not  his  like  or  his  equal,  was 
to  be  banished  by  the  almost  unanimous  voice  of 
the  congregation.  He  had  expected,  as  was  then 
generally  the  case  with  New  England  ministers, 


LARGER  RESULTS   OF   THE  REVIVAL.  249 

to  end  his  days  wdtli  the  church  over  which  he 
had  been  set  in  his  youth.  But  not  only  were 
the  sacred  ties  which  bound  him  to  his  people 
broken,  —  there  was  a  manifestation  toward  him 
of  anger,  of  malice,  and  of  contumely,  the  story 
of  which,  even  at  this  distance  of  time,  it  is  pain- 
ful to  read.  Such  an  event  had  no  precedent  in 
the  history  of  the  New  England  churches.  It  may 
help  to  appreciate  the  situation  if  a  general  sum- 
mary be  given  of  the  effects,  near  or  remote,  of 
the  Great  Awakening,  before  treating  of  the  pe- 
culiar cause  which  explains  the  misfortunes  of  Ed- 
wards. 

First  among  these  may  be  ranked  the  promi- 
nent place  assigned  to  the  emotions,  which  becomes  / 
an  abnost  new  element  in  popular  Christianity. 
The  appeal  to  the  emotions  had  been  attended,  it 
is  true,  by  gross  evils,  caricatures,  distortions,  and 
perversions  of  true  religion,  which  had  made  sen- 
sible men  stand  aloof  in  the  conviction  that  the 
movement  was  doing  more  injury  than  good.  But 
the  good  was  in  the  long  run  to  predominate  over 
the  evil.  To  rouse  the  emotions  in  the  interest  of 
religion  was  equivalent  to  asserting  the  inwardness 
of  religion,  instead  of  leaving  it  a  cold  routine  of 
external  duties.  The  emphasis  placed  upon  the 
affections  in  religion  marks  a  new  step  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  people.  Sacerdotal  and  sacra- 
mental theories  of  a  divine  grace,  conveyed  through 
external  channels,  vanished  under  the  influence 
of  the  principle  that  the  divine  action  on  the  soul 


250  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

is  direct  and  immediate,  capable  also  of  imparting 
such  a  shcjk  to  the  whole  nature  as  to  divert  it 
from  its  old  current  into  a  higher  ethical  as  well 
as  spiritual  existence.  The  appeal  to  the  emotions, 
in  behalf  of  which  Edwards  plead  so  earnestly, 
not  only  made  possible  a  religious  enthusiasm,  but 
was  the  indirect  cause  of  other  popular  enthusi- 
asms by  which  great  reforms  were  to  be  accom- 
plished. To  rouse  the  emotional  nature  was  to 
emancipate  the  powers  of  the  soul  which  had  so 
long  lain  dormant  that  their  very  existence  was 
unsuspected.  Without  such  a  preliminary  quick- 
ening movement  as  the  Great  Awakening,  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  sentiment  of  humanity,  which  has 
been  such  a  powerful  factor  in  modern  civilization, 
could  have  made  its  successful  record.  The  hard- 
ness and  cruelty  of  the  last  century,  the  want  of 
^ylnpathy  with  human  suffering,  the  injustices 
which  had  long  reigned  undisturbed,  were  gradu- 
ally overcome  when  men  ceased  to  remain  stran- 
gers to  their  inmost  selves.  It  will  always  remain 
the -peculiar  glory  of  the  religious  body  known  as 
Friends,  or  Quakers,  that  their  theological  prin- 
ciple made  them  the  first  to  awake  to  the  evils  of 
human  slavery.  The  Puritans  now  fall  into  line 
with  those  whom  they  have  despised  or  persecuted  ; 
'and  it  is  a  circumstance  to  he  noted,  that  a  friend 
and  pupil  of  Edwards,  the  famous  Dr.  Hopkins, 
became  the  leader  in  the  social  reform  which  ef- 
fected the  abolition  of  slavery  in  New  England. 
Another  result  of  the  revival  in  New  England 


ELECTION  AND   CONVERSION.  251 

was  to  make  the  inward  process  of  conversion  tlie 
foremost  consideration  in  tlie  religious  conscious- 
ness. Not  but  what  it  had  been  recognized  be- 
fore, in  name  as  well  as  in  substantial  result.  But 
yet  the  revival  so  magnified  the  importance  of 
conversion  that  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  new 
and  distinct  creation  of  the  last  century,  whose  ac- 
ceptance by  the  Calvinistic  churches  has  had  the 
effect  of  subordinating  their  differences  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  give  them  a  unity  and  resemblance 
which  overshadows  their  divergences.  And  fur- 
ther, the  idea  of  conversion,  dividing  as  it  did  the 
world  into  two  great  classes,  was  a  distinction  so 
tangible,  so  potent,  as  to  eclipse  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  elect  and  the  non-elect,  which  from  this 
time  was  destined,  however  slowly,  to  disappear. 
The  necessity  of  conversion  was  asserted  by  the 
great  founder  of  Methodism,  with  a  vigor  and  suc- 
cess which  Calvinism  could  not  rival,  so  long  as  it 
was  embarrassed  by  the  prior  distinction  between 
elect  and  non-elect,  which  Wesley  totally  rejected. 
Although  Edwards  had  aimed  to  revive  the  old 
distinction,  and  not  without  success,  yet  the  at- 
tempt to  retain  election,  as  a  coordinate  ruling  idea 
in  the  religious  life,  threw  New  England  theology 
into  a  confusion  out  of  which  it  was  long  in 
emerging.  The  idea^x)f  conversion  involved  the 
freedom  of  the  will,  and  was  silently  undermining 
all  false  distinctions  by  which  human  freedom  was 
denied  or  made  inoperative.  The  question  has 
been  asked  why  revivals  should   have   been  un- 


252  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

known  in  tlie  American  cliurclies  after  the  Great 
Awakening  in  1740,  and  slioukl  not  have  reap- 
peared until  two  generations  had  passed  away. 
The  answers  to  this  inquiry  have  been  various, 
such  as  the  evils  which  the  Awakening  produced, 
or  the  political  complications  which  ended  in  the 
American  Revolution.  Both  answers  contain  a 
germ  of  truth.  But  there  is  another  answer  still. 
It  took  the  lifetime  of  two  generations  of  Puri- 
tan preachers  and  theologians  to  get  rid  of  the 
distinction  between  the  elect  and  non-elect.  It 
was  not  until  Hopkins  and  Emmons  had  had  their 
day  that  the  new  school  of  Puritanism  arose,  cor- 
dially admitting  the  freedom  of  the  will  in  terms 
which  Edwards  would  have  regarded  as  impossi- 
ble or  absurd. 

The  excitement  and  even  consternation  into 
which  the  revival  plunged  New  England  is  not 
wholly  explained  from  the  religious  stand-point 
alone.  As  we  study  the  time,  it  becomes  apparent 
that  a  change  was  going  on  which  ^was  affecting 
also  the  political  order,  whose  -result  was  to  undo 
the  bonds  of  sympathetic  relationship  which  for 
ages  had  united  the  church  and  the  state.  The 
readjustment  of  the  relation  between  the  church 
and  the  world  was  now  attended  by  the  same  ac- 
companiments as  had  waited  upon  the  Montanistic 
movement  or  the  Donatist  controversy  in  the  an- 
cient church.  These  signs  of  agitation  and  distress 
in  the  ecclesiastical  sphere  are  but  the  correspond- 
ents to  war  in  the  political  sphere,  —  the  necessary 


THE   CHURCH  AND   THE    WORLD.  253 

evils  which  accompany  a  great  transition.  The 
interest  in  studying  such  a  transition  does  not  lie 
in  measuring  the  extent  and  bitterness  of  the  agi- 
tation, which  have  passed  away,  but  in  reaching  an 
adequate  idea  of  the  principle  at  stake,  —  the  form 
which  the  reconstruction  was  assuming. 

There  are  times  when  the  church  and  the  world 
are  seen  drawing  more  closely  together,  when  it 
looks  as  if  the  church  were  deteriorating  in  its 
effort  to  embrace  mthin  itself,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  outlying  life  of  humanity.  Whether  the 
church  actually  deteriorates  or  not,  may  be  an  open 
question.  It  may  lower  itself,  but  if  so,  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  itself  again,  bringing  with  it,  in 
its  resurrection  to  a  higher  standard,  the  world 
which  it  would  not  have  reached  if  it  had  not 
known  how  to  abase  itself  in  order  to  its  exalta- 
tion. Puritanism  in  New  England  had  shared  in 
the  oscillations  of  this  vast  process.  Hardly  had 
the  Puritans  reached  the  new  world  when  church 
and  state  flowed  together  in  close  and  harmonious 
relationship.  But^  if  the  church  and  the  world  at 
times  approximate  for  mutual  benefit,  it  may  also 
be  regarded  as  an  equally  legitimate  process  when 
they  draw  apart,  when  the  church  is  seen  jealously 
separating  and  holding  itself  aloof  from  the  world, 
as  if  fearful  of  its  contamination.  The  feelins: 
grows  within  the  church  that  its  ideal  is  in  danger 
of  degradation  unless  it  may  go  apart  by  itseK,  to 
nourish  the  strength  of  holy  things  in  silence  and 
seclusion. 


254  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Edwards  had  been  the  leader  in  a  movement,  of 
wMch  this  was  the  outcome,  to  separate  the  church 
from  the  workl,  to  raise  such  barriers  between 
them  that  their  life  should  flow  on  separate  and 
apart.  He  had  grown  up  in  the  church,  as  if  it 
were  the  only  necessary  sphere  for  the  religious 
man.  From  childhood  on,  his  attention  was  con- 
centred on  the  church,  as  if  the  state  hardly  ex- 
isted, so  little  attention  did  he  give  to  its  affairs. 
Throughout  his  life  he  was  in  search  of  a  principle 
whose  acceptance  by  the  church  would  give  to  it 
a  vigorous  and  independent  life  of  its  own.  There 
is  one  notable  allusion  to  the  relation  which  the 
state  should  hold  to  the  church,  and  but  one,  so 
far  as  we  know,  in  Edwards'  works.  It  is  found 
in  his  Thoughts  on  the  Revival,  and  is  couched 
after  the  manner  of  the  Theocracy.  He  there 
alludes  to  the  indifference  disj^layed  by  the  civil 
authority  to  the  glorious  work  that  was  going  on 
in  the  churches.  At  least,  he  thought,  the  govern- 
ment might  have  proclaimed  a  day  of  public 
thanksgiving  for  so  unspeakable  a  mercy,  or  a  day 
of  fasting  and  penitence  for  past  deadness  and  un- 
profitableness under  the  means  of  grace ;  or  it 
might  have  entered  upon  consultation  as  to  what 
should  be  done  to  advance  so  great  a  reformation. 
If  a  new  governor  comes  into  the  province,  those 
who  are  in  -  authority  arise  and  go  forth  to  meet 
him  with  addresses  and  congratulations.  Not  to 
do  so  would  be  construed  as  a  denial  of  his  author- 
ity, or  a  refusal  to  receive  and  honor  him.     And 


RELATION   OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE.         255 

• 

when  the  Lord  of  the  universe  conies  down  from 
heaven  in  so  wonderful  a  manner,  shall  the  civil 
riders  stand  at  a  distance  and  be  silent  and  inac- 
tive !  He  would  humbly  recommend  them  to  con- 
sider whether  their  behavior  will  not  be  inter- 
preted by  God  as  a  denial  of  Christ,  or  whether 
God  is  not  adjuring  them :  Be  wise  noio^  O  ye 
riders  ;  he  instructed^  ye  judges  of  Neio  England } 
But  the  rulers  kept  silence  notwithstanding  Ed- 
wards' complaint.  Nor  was  the  protest  which  he 
had  made  indicative  of  any  deep-seated  purpose. 
He  did  not  feel  impelled  to  write  a  treatise  in 
order  to  expound  or  enforce  his  meaning.  The 
allusion  seems  to  have  been  intended  rather  for 
rhetorical  ends,  as  if  to  complete  his  thought ;  or 
it  may  have  been  the  conventional  echo  of  an  ear- 
lier age.  Church  and  state  were  drifting  apart, 
and  Edwards  not  only  made  no  effort  to  prevent 
or  retard  the  process,  but  furnished  the  formula 
for  their  withdrawal  and  separation.  In  accord- 
ance with  his  sharp  and  rutliless  distinction  be- 
tween common  and  special  grace,  the  state  is  de- 
prived of  a  truly  divine  or  supernatural  character, 
while  the  church  becomes  the  exclusive  home  of 
the  spiritual.  The  same  distinction  had  run 
through  Christian  history  from  the  time  of  Au- 
gustine, until  Wycliffe '  broke  its  spell  by  the  an- 
nunciation of  a  higher  teacliing,  —  that  the  state 
is  equally  divine  mth  the  church,  holding  its  sacred 
authority,  not  mediately,  as  popes  in  the  .Middle 

^  Thoughts  on  the  Revival,  vol.  iii.  p.  326. 


256  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

• 

Ages  had  asserted,  but  immediately  from  Christ 
HimseK.  Edwards,  like  Wycliffe,  stands  at  the 
beginning  of  a  new  cycle  in  the  history  of  the 
church.  But  though  the  outcome  of  his  teaching 
was  to  i-everse  the  thought  of  Wycliffe,  and  to  sep- 
arate church  and  state  as  if  their  union  were  the 
alliance  of  things  incompatible  with  each  other,  he 
showed  no  disposition  to  draw  the  inference  which 
popes  had  drawn,  which  Calvin  ajjd  the  early  Puri- 
tans had  also  drawn,  that  because  the  ecclesiastical 
was  more  important  than  the  civil,  therefore  the 
state  should  be  subordinated  to  the  church.  The 
state  had  now  become  too  strong,  and  it  may  be 
because  of  its  clearer  recognition  of  its  divine  call, 
to  sacrifice  its  mission  at  the  bidding  of  the  church. 
The  only  alternative  was  to  awaken  in  the  church 
an  independent  life,  so  that  it  should  not  feel  its 
need  of  dependence  on  the  state ;  to  create  an  in- 
terest so  powerful  and  absorbing  within  the  eccle- 
siastical fold  as  to  render  the  clergy  content  wdth 
their  restricted  sphere.  Such  was  the  significance 
of  the  doctrine  of  conversion  when  viewed  in  its 
relation  with  the  dissolution  of  the  Puritan  the- 
ocracy. The  church  now  became  not  only  recon- 
ciled to  its  new  lot,  but  soon  learned  to  denounce 
the  old  relation  as  a  baneful  mingling  of  the  things 
of  Caesar  with  the  things  of  God. 

It  was  still  another  result  of  the  new  distinction 
between  the  converted  and  the  unconverted  that  it 
made  impossible  any  longer  the  retention  of  the 
Half-way  Covenant,  and  especially  in   the  form 


THE  HALF-WAY   COVENANT.  257 

wliicli  it  had  assumed  at  Northampton.  As  orig- 
inally set  forth  in  the  Synod  of  1657,  and  again  in 
1662,  the  HaK-way  Covenant  had  been  a  conces- 
sion on  the  part  of  the  church,  mainly  in  order  to 
its  more  facile  working  in  relation  with  the  state. 
When  the  number  of  those  was  increasing  who 
asked  for  membership  in  the  church  in  order  to  a 
voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  state,  but  who  had  not 
the  qualification  for  church  membership  in  either 
ability  or  willingness  to  make  the  required  profes- 
sion of  religious  experience,  the  church  relaxed  its 
requirement,  and  allowed  admission  to  the  civil 
privileges  of  membership  on  the  ground  of  baptism 
alone.  But  to  those  joining  the  church  on  this 
Half-way  Covenant,  as  it  was  now  called,  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  still  refused  until  they  should  enter 
into  fidl  covenant  by  presenting  before  the  church 
satisfactory  evidence  of  the  Spirit's  work  within 
them.  But  this  was  not  the  form  of  the  Half- 
way Covenant  which  awoke  the  distrust  and  oppo- 
sition of  Edwards.  At  Northampton  a  further 
step  had  been  taken  by  Mr.  Stoddard,  Edwards' 
grandfather  and  predecessor,  who  had  introduced 
on  his  own  authority  a  radical  modification  of 
the  HaK-way  Covenant,  in  accordance  with  which 
baptized  persons  were  admitted  to  the  Lord's 
Supper  without  making  a  credible  profession  of 
Christian  experience,  or  even  if  they  knew  that 
they  were  destitute  of  any  work  of  divine  grace 
within  them. 

Although  Mr.  Stoddard's  attitude  had  met  with 


258  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

mucli  opposition,^  the  custom  which  he  introduced 
at  Northampton  had  very  generally  prevailed  among 
the  surrounding  churches,  as  well  as  elsewhere 
throughout  New  England.  Edwards,  when  he 
first  went  to  Northampton,  felt  instinctive  mis- 
givings as  to  the  method  in  vogue,  but  he  sup- 
pressed at  the  time  any  impulse  to  inquire  further 
into  the  matter  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  mind. 
After  the  Revival  of  1735,  and  again  after  that  of 
1740,  he  admitted  large  numbers  to  the  commun- 
ion without  requiring  from  them  any  distinct  pro- 
fession of  Christian  experience.  But  in  his  ser- 
mons on  The  Religious  Affections,  he  intimated 
plainly  his  dislike  to  a  further  continuance  of  the 
custom.  This  was  in  the  year  1744.  From  that 
time  until  1748,  no  one  was  presented  for  admis- 
sion  to   the    sacred  rite   of   the    Lord's    Supper. 

^  Among-  those  who  resisted  the  innovation  at  Northampton 
was  the  celebrated  Dr.  Increase  Mather,  the  last  great  champion 
of  the  theocracy.  But  thoug-h  he  answered  Mr.  Stoddard's 
defence  of  his  position,  he  felt  no  great  interest  in  the  subject 
and  regarded  it  as  of  minor  importance.  Cf .  Stoddard's  Guide 
to  Christ  (1735),  which  contains  a  prefatory  epistle  by  In- 
crease Mather  in  which  he  remarks  :  "  It  is  known  that,  in  some 
points  not  fundamental,  I  differ  from  this  beloved  author."  Mr. 
Stoddard's  position  was  not  a  clearly  defined  one,  and  was  easily 
liable  to  misapprehension.  In  his  Appeal  to  the  Learned,  in  which 
he  makes  his  defence,  he  remarks:  "My  business  was  to  an- 
swer a  case  of  conscience,  and  direct  those  that  might  have 
scruples  about  participation  of  the  Lord's  Supper  because  they 
had  not  a  work  of  saving  conversion,  not  at  all  to  direct  the 
churches  to  admit  any  that  were  not  to  rational  charity  true 
believers." — p.  27.  Cf.,  also,  the  New-Englander,  vol.  xliii.  p. 
615,  for  an  account  of  Mr.  Stoddard's  own  religious  history, 
which  has  only  recently  come  to  light. 


J 


A   CASE   OF  PARISH  DISCIPLINE.  259 

Then,  in  the  case  of  a  person  who  solicited  the 
privilege,  Edwards  stated  what  he  should  require 
as  the  terms  of  full  admission  to  the  church.  The 
person  in  question  declined  to  accept  them,  and 
the  issue  was  now  broached  which  resulted  in  his 
dismissal. 

It  is  possible  that  the  difficulties  in  which  Ed- 
wards was  now  involved  might  have  assumed  a 
different  shape  had  not  affairs  been  complicated 
by  a  peculiar  case  of  discipline  in  the  parish  in 
which  Edwards  had  failed  to  carry  with  him  the 
cooperation  of  the  people.  As  the  story  runs,  a 
discovery  had  been  made  that  certain  books  of  an 
obscene  character  ^  were  in  circulation  among  the 
young  people  of  the  parish  of  both  sexes,  the 
result  of  which  was  licentious  conversation  and 
immoral  practices.  The  first  act  of  the  pastor 
was  a  sermon  in  which  the  facts  were  made  known 
to  the  congregation,  —  an  imj)ressive  sermon,  which 
led  the  officers  to  unite  wdth  him  in  calling  for  an 
examination  of  the  offenders.  But  when  Edwards 
came  to  read  from  the  pulpit  the  names  of  the 
guilty  persons,  and  of  those  also  who  were  sum- 
moned to  give  their  witness  in  the  case,  it  appeared 
that  almost  every  family  in  the  church  of  any 
consideration  was  involved.  Those  who  had  hith- 
erto favored  an  investigation  now  resisted  it.  The 
consequence  was  that  the  proposed  discipline  was 

^  The  siig-g-estion  has  been  made  that  the  books  were  some  of 
the  popular  novels  of  the  time,  such  as  Pamela,  etc.  Cf.  Leslie 
Stephen,  Hours  in  a  Library,  vol.  ii.  p.  63. 


260  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

dropped,  wliile  a  certain  disaffection  towards  Ed- 
wards began  to  be  felt  which  put  an  end  to  the 
extraordinary  influence  he  had  hitherto  exercised. 
From  this  time  Edwards  laments  the  ineffective- 
ness of  his  preaching.  Whether  it  was  that  his 
speculative  cast  of  mind  had  carried  him  too  far 
away  from  the  range  of  the  popular  interest,  his 
sermons  no  longer  aroused  the  unconverted.  A 
general  decline  of  religious  interest  began  to  pre- 
vail which  he  was  powerless  to  overcome. 

Edwards  was  inclined  to  attribute  the  difficulty 
to  the  custom  of  admitting  to  the  inner  shrine  of 
the  Christian  worship  those  who  had  made  no 
profession  of  a  Christian  purpose.  He  now  pro- 
posed to  discuss  the  subject  in  a  series  of  sermons, 
and  asked  permission  of  the  church  to  that  effect. 
The  permission  was  not  only  refused,  but  a  storm 
of  human  rage  and  furor  now  broke  forth  against 
him,  and  nothing  would  allay  the  angry  passions 
of  the  people  but  his  final  and  immediate  dismis- 
sal from  his  post.  In  vain  he  asked  permission 
to  be  heard,  aware  as  he  was  that  his  views 
were  bitterly  misrepresented.  He  finally  gained 
consent  to  write  a  book  on  the  Qualifications  of 
Full  Communion,  which  might  be  read  when  his 
voice  would  not  be  listened  to  from  the  pidpit. 
But  while  the  work  was  in  preparation  the  people 
became  impatient  that  it  did  not  appear,  in  order 
that  they  might  hasten  his  dismissal,  which  had 
become  a  foregone  conclusion.  When  the  book 
appeared  but  few  of  them  read  it.    He  then  deter- 


AN   ECCLESIASTICAL   COUNCIL.  261 

mined  by  the  advice  of  the  surrounding  churches 
to  lecture  on  the  subject.  But  his  lectures  were 
thinly  attended  by  his  own  congregation,  though 
many  came  from  a  distance  who  made  up  the 
greater  part  of  his  audience.  When  the  question 
arose  of  calling  an  ecclesiastical  council  for  the 
purpose  of  hearing  the  case,  there  was  long  and 
unseemly  wrangling,  because  the  church  at  North- 
ampton was  afraid  that,  if  Edwards  went  out  of 
the  county  to  invite  ministers  and  churches  to  sit 
upon  the  council,  as  he  was  entitled  to  do,  the  case 
might  result  in  his  retention  of  the  pastorate  ;  and 
they  were  determined  that  he  should  go.  When 
the  council  met,  it  was  decided  by  a  majority  of 
one  that  the  pastoral  relation  should  be  dissolved. 
But  the  vote  of  the  church  ratifying  the  decision 
of  the  council  was  two  hundred  in  favor  of  it,  and 
only  twenty  who  were  opposed.  The  date  of  Ed- 
wards' dismissal  was  June  22,  1750.  Although  he 
continued  to  live  in  the  town  for  some  months 
after  his  connection  with  the  church  was  severed, 
great  reluctance  was  felt  at  allowing  him  to 
preach,  even  when  the  services  of  no  other  minis- 
ter could  be  obtained.  And  at  last  a  town  meet- 
ing was  called  which  accomplished  its  object  in  the 
formal  vote  that  he  should  not  again  be  permitted 
to  enter  the  pulpit  of  the  church  in  Northampton. 
So  Jonathan  Edwards  was  turned  adrift  at  the  end 
of  twenty-three  years  of  service,  and  at  the  age  of 
forty-seven,  with  a  large  family  of  children,  and 
with   no  means   of   support,  and  doubtful   if  he 


202  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

should  ever  obtain  another  parish.  The  spirit  of 
the  man  under  these  circumstances  shone  forth  so 
beautifully  that  one's  sympathies  and  love  go  forth 
toward  him  as  if  the  scene  were  still  visibly  enact- 
ing before  our  eyes.  He  had  sat  down  and  counted 
the  cost  before  he  proceeded  to  action.  He  knew 
that  to  overturn  the  established  usage  meant  dis- 
aster to  himself  and  his  family.  After  all,  the 
man  was  gTeater  than  the  metaphysician  or  the 
theologian.  In  his  mature  years  he  is  exhibiting 
the  final  product  in  high  Christian  character,  of 
which  he  had  set  before  himself  the  ideal  in  the 
Resolutions  of  his  youth.  It  must  have  been  a 
strange  scene  at  Northampton  when  he  preached 
his  farewell  sermon.  The  discourse  is  still  trem- 
vdous  with  the  intense  feeling  of  the  hour.  The 
whole  man  stands  forth  in  it,  with  his  moral  indig- 
nation at  a  great  wrong ;  with  the  solemnity  of  ac- 
cusation in  which  he  had  no  equal ;  with  the  tender 
pathos  in  which  he  takes  his  leave  of  the  dear 
children  whom  God  had  given  him,  warning  them 
all  of  the  final  meeting  at  the  judgment  day,  when 
the  case  should  be  reheard  before  the  tribunal  of 
Heaven. 

No  attempt  can  be  macle  here  to  review  at  any 
length  the  questions  at  issue  regarding  the  reor- 
ganization of  the  Puritan  churches.  The  confu- 
sion in  this  time  of  transition  was  so  great  that  no 
one  could  do  justice  to  the  motives  of  his  opponent. 
All  parties  alike  complain  of  misrepresentation. 
It  was  Edwards'  misfortune  that  he  labored  under 


EDWARDS'   POSITION.  263 

the  suspicion  of  being  a  separatist.  He  was 
charged  with  seeking  to  establish  a  church  on 
principles  opposed  to  those  of  the  standing  order ; 
of  demanding  the  evidence  of  an  inward  change 
on  the  part  of  postulants  for  admission,  the  stages 
of  which  should  be  sharply  defined ;  of  sitting  in 
judgment  on  the  religious  condition  of  others.  In 
the  excited  condition  of  the  people,  it  was  almost 
impossible  that  he  should  assuage  these  hostile 
suspicions.  But  in  this  case  as  in  others  the  in- 
domitable will  of  Edwards  rose  above  all  obsta- 
cles. He  was  determined  to  make  his  position  clear. 
In  his  Qualifications  for  Full  Communion,  written 
while  the  controversy  was  at  its  height,  he  resisted 
that  tendency  in  the  Puritan  churches,  represented 
by  Mr.  Stoddard,  which  endowed  the  church  as 
an  organic  institution  with  a  life-giving  efficacy. 
Mr.  Stoddard's  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
might  easily  be  interpreted  as  giving  to  the  feast 
of  the  Holy  Communion  a  magical  effect  apart 
from  the  spiritual  fitness  of  the  recipient.  Hence 
he  had  spoken  of  the  Lord's  Supper  as  a  convert- 
ing ordinance ;  he  invited  persons  to  the  Holy 
Table  even  though  they  knew  themselves  to  be 
destitute  of  Christian  sincerity.  This  sacramental 
tendency  was  banished  from  the  Puritan  churches 
by  Edwards'  influence.  His  book  on  the  subject 
became  a  standard  authority,  holding  Congrega^ 
tionalism  to  its  original  principle,  that  only  by  a 
living  faith  did  Christ  become  the  living  bread  in 
the  sacrament  of  His  body  and  His  blood.     A  re- 


264  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ply  to  this  work  on  the  Qualifications  for  Full 
Communion  was  made  by  AYilliams,  a  neighbor- 
ing minister  and  a  kinsman  of  Edwards,  which 
drew  forth  from  him  a  few  years  later  another 
large  treatise  which  practically  closed  the  contro- 
versy. In  this  work  he  pursues  his  antagonist 
into  the  hidden  recesses  of  those  groundless  sus- 
picions which  were  rife  among  the  people.  He 
endeavors  to  clear  himself  of  the  charge  of  set- 
ting up  a  separatist  church,  or  of  calling  for  evi- 
dence of  conversion,  or  of  insisting  that  conversion 
should  assume  a  uniform  character.  All  that  he 
had  insisted  upon  as  a  requisite  for  admission  to 
the  Lord's  Supper  was  a  simj^le,  moderate  formula 
of  self-consecration,  hardly  going  beyond  the  con- 
firmation vow  of  the  Church  of  England.^ 

But  on  the  other  hand  Edwards  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  aware  of  the  revolution  which  the 
popular  idea  of  conversion  was  working  in  the 
churches.  As  a  consequence  of  that  sharp  dis- 
tinction, the  baptism  of  infants  was  losing  its  sig- 

^  Edwards  has  g-iven  two  of  these  formulas  in  his  Reply  to 
Williams,  yo\.  \.  p.  202.  The  first  of  them  reads:  "1  hope  I 
do  truly  find  a  heart  to  give  myself  wholly  to  God,  according-  to 
the  tenor  of  that  covenant  of  grace  which  was  sealed  in  my  bap- 
tism, and  to  walk  in  a  way  of  that  obedience  to  all  the  command- 
ments of  God  which  the  covenant  of  grace  requires,  as  long  as 
I  live."  The  alternative  formula  reads:  "I  hope  I  truly  find 
in  my  heart  a  willingness  to  comply  with  all  the  commandments 
of  God,  which  require  me  to  give  myself  up  wholly  to  Him  and 
to  serve  Him  with  my  body  and  my  spirit ;  and  do  accordingly 
now  promise  to  walk  in  a  way  of  obedience  to  all  the  command- 
ments of  God  as  long  as  I  live." 


INFANT  BAPTISM. 


265 


nificance.     Until  they  had  been   converted,  they 
stood  in  no  relation  to  God  ;  they  were  as  far  from 
Him  as  if  they  had  never  come  within  the  scope  of 
Christian  influence.     Edwards  made  no  effort  to 
meet  the  difficidty,  nor  did  he  feel  called  upon  to 
examine  the  subject  of  infant  baptism.      He  ad- 
mits Uhat  all  the  baptized  are  in  some  sort  mem- 
bers of  the  chiu'ch.     But  there  he  leaves  a  subject 
which  had  no  interest  for  him.     He  had  no  doubts 
about  it,  as  he  remarks,  but  it  was  "  a  topic  liable 
to  great  disputes,  and  caUed  for  a  large  disserta. 
tion   to  make  it  clear."      The  opponents  of  Ed- 
wards  on   this    subject    had    a    clear   and   yahd 
position.      In  maintaining  that  baptism  admitted 
to  all  the  privileges  of  church  membership,^  they 
were  resisting  the  evil  effects  of  the  doctrine  of 
conversion,  which  easily  degenerated  into  a  bane- 
ful subjectivity,  where  the  organic  character  of  the 
church  threatened  to  disappear,  where  the  shifting 
feelings  about  one's  inner  state  became  the  test  of 
one's  "kcceptance  with  God.     In  adhering  to  the 

1  Qualifications,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  89. 

2  Among  those  who  actively  helped  in  the  expulsion  of  i^d- 
wards  from  Northampton  was  another  kinsman,  Ashley,  of  Deer- 
field  Edwards'  bitterest  foes  seem  to  have  been  those  of  his  own 
household  after  the  flesh.  Cf.  The  Historical  Magazine,  June 
1867  for  a  sermon  preached  by  Ashley  containing  a  defence  ot 
the  principle  that  baptism  admits  to  full  church  membership  and 
represents  an  organic  relationship  to  Christ.  Ashley  suffered  for 
his  devotion  to  this  principle,  as  well  as  for  his  opposition  to  Jl.d- 
wards.  He  saw  his  own  congregation  divide  on  the  issue,  the 
larger  part  going  to  Greenfield  to  found  a  church  on  Edwards 
idels.     It  was  on  this  occasion  that  he  preached  the  sermon. 


266  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Half-way  Covenant,  they  were  also  struggling 
against  what  was  called  the  Anabaptist  heresy, 
which  discarded  infant  baptism  altogether,  post- 
poning the  performance  of  the  rite  until  it  could 
gain  a  real  significance  by  coinciding  with  the 
experience  of  conversion.  It  had  been,  indeed, 
one  object  of  the  Half- Way  Covenant  to  overcome 
the  Anabaptist  principle  by  attaching  increased 
importance  to  baptism.  With  the  rejection  of 
the  Half-Way  Covenant,  and  under  the  influence 
of  the  popular  notions  about  conversion,  that  was 
now  coming  to  pass  which  the  early  Puritan 
fathers  had  dreaded.  An  opportunity  was  af- 
forded to  the  Baptist  sect  of  which  it  was  not  slow 
to  take  advantage.  With  this  communion  most 
of  the  separatist  organizations  in  New  England 
threw  in  their  lot,  and  were  lost  to  the  Congrega- 
tional order. 

There  are  clearly,  then,  two  sides  to  this  contro- 
versy. It  is  not  altogether  true,  as  is  sometimes 
remarked,  that  Edwards  was  simply  restoring  the 
early  order  of  the  Puritan  churches  in  New  Eng- 
land. He  could  not  restore  that  order  without 
restoring  also  the  Theocracy,  with  which  its  con- 
nection was  a  vital  one.  Those  who  were  resisting 
Edwards  were  also  legitimate  descendants  of  the 
Puritan  fathers  in  the  spirit,  as  also  largely  in  the 
letter.  We  are  tracing  here  the  rise  of  the  schism 
in  the  New  England  churches  which  came  to  an 
open  rupture  in  the  beginning  of  the  present  cen- 
^  tury.     The  opponents  of  Edwards  who  insisted  on 


A 


ECCLESIASTICAL   DIVISIONS.  267 

the  importance  of  baptism  as  admitting  to  full 
member sliij)  in  the  church,  who  rejected  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  converted  and  the  uncon- 
verted, were  also  representatives  of  the  old  Puritan 
purpose  which  was  seeking  some  normal  connec- 
tion between  the  church  and  the  world,  keeping 
the  church  in  a  larger  and  healthier  attitude  by 
its  relation  to  the  state,  insisting  on  the  objective 
side  of  Christian  truth,  and  in  this  spirit  vanquish- 
ing the  antinomian  spectre  as  it  appeared  in 
Mrs.  Hutchinson,  or  the  subjective  moods  of  the 
Quakers,  or  the  disintegrating  tendency  of  the 
Anabaptists,  who  threatened  the  supremacy  of  the 
standing  order. 

The  world  is  weary  of  discussions  about  the 
nature  of  baptism.  The  only  apology  for  present- 
ing the  subject  here  is  the  fact  of  its  historical  im- 
portance, and  its  close  relation  to  the  ecclesiastical 
divisions  which  now  began  to  mark  the  face  of 
New  England.  Speculations  about  what  might 
have  been,  although  they  are  intangible,  impon- 
derable considerations,  are  nevertheless  inevitable 
to  any  one  who  cannot  help  seeing  both  sides  of 
a  controversy.  If  the  two  positions  in  this  embit- 
tered party  strife  could  have  been  combined  ;  if 
baptism  could  have  been  imparted  freely  to  all 
and  accepted  as  a  rite  admitting  to  full  member- 
ship in  the  church ;  while  the  ratification  of  the  un- 
conscious vow  of  infancy  was  required  as  a  natural 
step  in  maturer  years,  as  well  as  a  condition  for 
receiving  the  Lord's  Supper,  —  the  divisions  into 


268  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

hostile  sects  might  have  been  to  some  degree 
averted.  But  the  churches  of  the  Congregational 
order,  both  before  and  after  Edwards'  time,  nar- 
rowed the  number  of  recipients  of  the  rite,  in  the 
case  of  infant  baptism,  to  the  children  of  belie\dng 
parents.  There  was  thus  opened  a  door  for  the 
introduction  of  another  church,  an  older  ecclesias- 
tical order,  which  rejected  no  child  from  its  fold, 
whatever  its  parentage,  asserting  of  all  baptized 
children  that  they  were  divinely  and  authoritatively 
declared  by  baptism  to  be  the  "  children  of  God, 
the  members  of  Christ,  and  heirs  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven."  For  such  a  church,  with  such  a 
profession,  there  was  surely  a  demand.  Edwards 
must  have  looked  upon  its  declaration  of  the  mean- 
ing of  baptism  with  a  feeling  of  deep  repugnance. 
And  yet  it  might  become  the  basis  of  a  theology 
quite  as  spiritual  as  his  own,  and  without  his  limi- 
tations. 

The  controversy  on  the  nature  of  the  church  was 
carried  on  by  Edwards  without  knowledge  of  pre- 
vious discussions  which  had  covered  much  the  same 
ground  in  ancient  history.  His  Reply  to  Williams, 
as  well  as  his  Qualifications  for  Full  Communion, 
remind  one  constantly  of  Augustine's  controversy 
with  the  Donatists  in  the  fifth  century.  The  para^ 
bles  of  the  good  and  bad  fish  taken  in  the  net,  or 
the  tares  and  the  wheat  growing  in  the  same  field, 
recurring  in  both  controversies,  are  the  hinge  on 
which  the  discussions  turned.  Edwards  had  some- 
thing of  the  Donatist  spirit,  which  was  seeking  the 


EARLY  PURITAN  IS. 'if.  269 

purity  of  the  cliurch,  but  he  might  not  have  been 
averse  to  Augustine's  compromise  of  an  eccleslola^ 
—  the  little  church  within  the  larger  church.  Au- 
gustine was  also  adjusting  afresh  the  relations  be- 
tween the  ecclesiastical  and  the  civil  power.  Here 
the  divergency  is  wide  and  real.  In  the  ancient 
church  everything  tended  toward  the  union  with 
the  state  in  some  organic  relationship,  —  the  church, 
however,  possessing  the  advantage ;  while  the  state 
trembled  in  its  impotence  as  it  saw  the  imperial 
sceptre  gradually  ceasing  to  be  the  symbol  of 
power.  But  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  situa- 
tion was  reversed.  It  was  becoming  the  watch- 
word of  modern  Christianity,  as  it  had  been  among 
the  Donatists,  that  the  church  should  have  no  rela- 
tion to  the  civil  power.  The  times  were  with  Ed- 
wards in  his  efforts  to  mould  the  church  in  accord- 
ance with  the  distinction  between  the  converted 
and  the  unconverted,  —  a  distinction  which  should 
serve  to  keep  the  church  within  its  own  too  narrow 
sphere.  Edwards  seemed  to  be  carrying  back  the 
Congregational  order  to  its  early  purity,  when  a 
profession  of  Christian  experience  was  demanded 
from  every  postulant  for  admission  to  the  church. 
But  the  difference  is  greater  than  the  resemblance 
between  his  work  and  that  of  the  Puritan  fathers. 
To  the  original  churches  there  had  opened  the  at- 
tractive opportunity  of  ruling  the  state  and  the  so- 
cial order  in  the  name  of  God.  When  this  oppor- 
tunity and  privilege  were  withdrawn,  there  was 
danger  of  an  unhealthy  pietism  invading  the  reK- 


270  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

gious  circle,  which  would  not  only  destroy  its  at- 
tractiveness for  the  outer  world,  but  might  rob  the 
church  itself  of  a  robust  manliness,  if  it  did  not 
empty  religion  of  its  positive  significance.  There 
are  not  wanting  signs  of  a  certain  hoUowness  and 
unreality  in  the  speculative  thought  of  Edwards, 
which  may  owe  their  origin  in  some  part  to  this 
defect. 

Having  made  these  qualifications,  it  only  re- 
mains to  add  that  Edwards  may  be  justly  called 
the  father  of  modern  Congregationalism.  If  he 
seemed  to  have  been  defeated  by  his  expulsion 
from  Northampton,  his  expulsion  made  the  issue 
clear  and  he  triumphed  in  his  fall.  Most  of  the 
Puritan  churches  accepted  his  principles,  banished 
the  Half-way  Covenant,  and  took  on  the  form  which 
they  still  retain.  As  one  by  one  they  went  over 
to  his  side,  they  found  it  hard  to  understand  how 
there  ever  could  have  existed  a  different  practice. 
It  became  the  custom  to  refer  to  the  times  of  the 
Theocracy  as  "  those  unhappy  days  when  things 
secular  and  religious  were  strangely  mixed  up  in 
New  England."  ^  And  yet  the  Congregational 
churches  have  never  been  able  to  escape  alto- 
gether from  the  effects  of  that  "  unhappy "  con- 
nection^ if  so  it  must  be  regarded.  It  has  given 
them  a  certain  distinction,  the  consciousness  of 
which  they  prize.  They  have  continued  to  retain 
a  sense  of  relationship  to  the  state,  and  to  feel 
themselves  responsible  for  its  welfare.     Nor  have 

1  Dwight,  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  303. 


ALIENATION  FROM   CONGREGATIONALISM.     271 

the  cases  been  rare  in  wliicli  its  clergy  have  given 
themselves  to  political  and  legislative  duties,  as  if 
a  natural  and  congenial  work. 

But  if  Edwards  was  the  father  of  modern  Con- 
gregationalism, he  came  very  near  disowning  liis 
offspring.  In  those  dark  days  after  his  expulsion 
from  his  parish,  when  he  did  not  know  which  way 
to  turn  for  a  common  livelihood,  he  was  approached 
by  one  of  his  Scotch  correspondents,  who  offered 
to  procure  for  him  a  church  in  Scotland.  To  this 
correspondent  he  wrote :  "  You  are  pleased  very 
kindly  to  ask  me  whether  I  could  sign  the  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith,  and  submit  to  the 
Presbyterian  form  of  church  government.  .  .  .  As 
to  my  subscribing  to  the  substance  of  the  West- 
minster Confession,  there  would-be  no  difficulty; 
and  as  to  the  Presbjrterian  government,  I  have  long 
been  perfectly  out  of  conceit  of  our  unsettled,  inde- 
2:)endent^  confused  way  of  church  government  in 
this  land ;  and  the  Presbyterian  way  has  ever 
ajypeared  to  me  most  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God 
and  the  reason  and  nature  of  things.''^  ^  It  is  no 
gratuitous  assumption  if  we  view  this  language  as 
expressing  only  the  alienation  of  the  passing  mo- 
ment. The  case  of  Edwards  is  similar  to  that  noto- 
rious instance  in  the  ancient  church  where  Gregory 
Nazianzen,  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  was 
driven  from  his  see  by  the  violence  of  his  enemies. 
The  language  in  which,  from  the  soreness  of  his 
heart,   he    condemned    all    general   councils   and 

^  Dwiglit,  Life  of  President  Edwards,  p.  412. 


272  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

synods  of  bisliops  as  productive  only  of  evil,  may 
be  compared  vv^ith  Edwards'  strictures  upon  the 
ecclesiastical  polity  of  New  England.  In  both  in- 
stances allowance  must  be  made  for  human  infir- 
mity.' Congregationalism  as  a  church  polity  may 
have  its  defects  and  disadvantages  ;  but  it  has  also 
merits  for  those  who  know  to  discern  and  appro- 
priate them.  Among  this  number  Edwards  should 
certainly  be  ranked.  He  was  born  a  Congregation- 
alist,  if  we  may  use  the  expression.  The  appeal  to 
th£  reason  in  defence  of  truth,  rather  than  the 
prescription  of  authority,  is  liis  leading  character- 
istic. He  was,  all  his  life  through,  an  innovator, 
following  the  lead  of  his  speculative  faculties, 
rather  than  anxious  for  the  conservation  of  theo- 
logical formulas.  'His  rejection  of  the  church  polity, 
whose  workings  he  stimulated  and  adorned,  is  not 
consistent  with  the  freedom  and  independence  of 
his  own  career. 


I 


THIED  PERIOD. 

THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  THEOLOGIAN.    1750-1758. 

I. 

REMOVAL    TO    STOCKBRIDGE    AS    MISSIONARY    TO 
THE   INDIANS.  ^ 

In  the  straitened  circumstances  in  whicH  Ed- 
wards was  placed  after  his  dismissal  from  North- 
ampton, he  was  remembered  by  his  friends  in 
Scotland,  who  sent  generous  contributions  for  his 
relief.^  It  is  also  touching  to  read  how  his  wife 
and  daughters  endeavored  to  increase  the  family 
income  by  various  feminine  pursuits.  Toward  the 
close  of  the  year  1750  he  received  an  invitation  to 
become  the  pastor  of  the  church  in  Stockbridge, 
the  frontier  town  of  the  colony,  forty  miles  west 
of  Northampton.  He  had  already  declined  to 
further  a  movement  in  Northampton  whose  object 

1  Among"  these  Scotch  friends  and  correspondents  of  Edwards 
the  most  distinguished  was  Dr.  John  Erskine.  He  forwarded  to 
him  supplies  of  books,  urged  him  to  his  great  controversial  writ- 
ings, and  superintended  their  publication  in  Scotland.  He  has 
been  immortalized  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  his  Guy  Mannering, 
where  he  is  presented  in  his  old  age  leaning  over  the  pulpit  of 
Greyfriars.  He  was  the  leader  of  the  Evangelical  Calvinists  in 
the  church  of  Scotland.  It  is  interesting  also  to  note  that  he  was 
the  great-uncle  of  the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Erskine,  of  Liulathen. 


274  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

had  been  to  establisli  there  another  church  of 
wliich  he  should  become  the  pastor.  He  had 
hardly  accepted  the  invitation  to  Stockbridge 
when  he  received  a  call  from  a  church  in  Virginia, 
which  also  promised  him  a  generous  support. 
These  and  similar  indications  must  have  been 
grateful  in  his  despondency,  as  showing  that  a 
career  of  active  usefulness  was  still  open,  despite 
the  reflection  on  his  name  by  his  treatment  at 
Northampton.  The  removal  to  Stockbridge,  how- 
ever it  may  have  first  appeared,  was  in  reality  an 
expansion  to  him,  offering  opportunities  which  had 
hitherto  been  denied  for  the  full  display  of  his 
highest  powers. 

He  still  continued  to  feel,  after  his  removal 
there,  the  effects  of  the  great  disruption  which  had 
followed  his  attempts  at  reform.  It  was  there 
that  he  wrote  his  rejoinder  to  Williams,  who  had 
ventured  a  reply  to  his  work  on  the  Qualifica- 
tions for  Full  Communion.  When  Edwards  un- 
dertook a  task  of  this  kind,  he  showed  his  ad- 
versary no  quarter.  In  this  case  he  brought  his 
subtle  exhaustive  method  to  an  examination  and 
refutation  of  every  fallacy,  every  misrepresenta- 
tion, however  slight,  in  order  that  the  reader  who 
was  willing  to  examine  the  subject  might  become 
fully  aware  how  the  case  had  stood  between  him 
and  his  opponents.  But  irrational  and  perverse 
elements  were  so  mixed  up  with  that  disastrous 
time  at  Northampton,  that  one  must  not  expect, 
and  from  Edwards  least  of  all,  an  intelligible  ac- 


MAJOR  BAWLEY'S  APOLOGY.  275 

count  of  the  situation.  There  came  to  him  while 
at  Stockbridge  some  sort  of  an  apology  from  his 
former  parishioners,  which  seemed  to  him  entirely 
inadequate.  His  reply ,^  which  is  addressed  to 
Major  Joseph  Hawley,  shows  how  deeply  the  sense 
of  his  personal  dignity  had  been  affronted,  and 
also  the  lofty  and  authoritative  tone  of  the  ancient 
Puritan  minister.  From  the  same  Joseph  Hawley 
there  came  personal  letters  which  even  to  Edwards' 
exacting  mind  must  have  disclosed  an  adequate 
repentance.  Hawley,  who  had  been  active  and 
influential  in  fomenting  the  disaffection  among 
the  people,  had  now  condemned  his  own  conduct, 
and  with  it  that  of  the  people  with  whom  he  had 
acted,  as  sinful  and  criminal  in  every  respect :  as 
he  reflected  upon  it,  he  had  been  confounded  and 
filled  with  terror.  He  appeals  to  the  51st  Psalm 
as  the  confession  of  his  soul  in  view  of  his  crime. 
He  calls  upon  the  church  at  Northampton  to  con- 
sider whether  it  had  not  been  guilty  of  great  sin 
before  God  in  parting  as  they  did  with  such  a 
minister  as  Mr.  Edwards.  Their  words  against 
him  he  denounces  as  odious  and  ungodly  and  vile, 
full  of  unchristian  bitterness  and  of  gross  slanders. 
Mr.  Hawley  had  received  from  Edwards  the  assur- 
ance of  his  forgiveness  and  prayers.  But,  not  con- 
tent with  this  private  confession,  he  published  a 
letter,  after  Edwards'  death,^  in  which  he  gave  to 
the  world  the  confession  wliich  he  had  rendered  in 

^  Cf.  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  vol.  i.  p.  579. 
2  Dwiglit's  Memoir,  pp.  421,  ff. 


276  THE  PEILOSOrniCAL   THEOLOGIAN, 

private ;  and  as  no  remonstrance  appeared  from 
the  congregation,  it  may  be  taken  as  indicating 
more  than  a  personal  apology.  There  is  now  a 
church  at  Northampton  which  is  called  after  the 
name  of  the  once  dishonored  pastor ;  and  the  high- 
est distinction  which  the  town  can  claim,  after  one 
hundred  years  and  more  have  passed  away,  is  to  be 
identified  with  the  labors  and  reputation  of  Jona- 
than Edwards. 

The  family  of  Edwards  when  he  went  to  Stock- 
bridge  included  ten  children,  one  daughter  having 
died,  to  whom  allusion  has  been  made.  Two  of 
the  older  daughters  were  married  about  the  time 
when  their  father's  difficulties  were  at  their  height, 
—  Mary  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  Sarah  at  the  age 
of  twenty-two,  —  events  which  must  have  called  off 
his  mind  from  his  troubles,  and  renewed  his  inter- 
est in  the  changes  and  chances  of  this  mortal  life. 
Of  the  daughters  who  went  with  him  to  Stock- 
bridge,  Esther  was  one,  to  wdiose  beauty  inherited 
from  both  parents,  as  well  as  her  intellectual 
brightness,  tradition  bears  ample  testimony.  She 
had  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Rev.  Aaron 
Burr,  a  noted  personage  in  those  aristocratic  days, 
and  to  Stockbridge  the  devoted  lover  followed  her, 
gaining  her  consent  to  matrimony  in  a  short  court- 
ship. Mr.  Burr  was  a  man  of  brilliant  quahties, 
who  had  recently  been  called  to  the  presidency  of 
Nassau  Hall,  —  what  was  afterwards  to  become 
known  as  Princeton  College.  His  career  was  cut 
prematurely  short  at  the  age  of  forty-two,  but  not 


AARON  BURR.  211 

before  lie  had  achieved  a  reputation  for  piety  and 
culture  which  lonsr  survived  him.  He  left  two 
children,  one  of  them  a  boy  named  after  his  father, 
in  whom  a  curious  interest  has  always  centred, 
partly  on  his  own  account,  and  partly  also  for  the 
thoughts  and  misgivings  which  are  suggested  by 
the  fact  that  such  a  man  should  have  been  the 
grandson  of  Jonathan  Edwards.  Aaron  Burr  was 
the  murderer  of  Alexander  Hamilton  in  a  duel ;  he 
became  vice-president  of  the  United  States  ;  and 
his  career  reached  its  height  for  notoriety  in  a 
conspiracy  against  the  government,  which  led  to  his 
arrest  and  trial  for  treason.  He  was  a  man  with 
an  unusual,  ahnost  a  weird  power  of  fascination,  — 
to  some  extent  the  same  charm  wliich  may  be 
traced  in  his  ancestors,  where  it  had  found  scope 
and  satisfaction  in  the  things  of  religion  and  the 
church.  Diverted  from  these  channels,  the  fascina- 
tion reappeared  under  the  aspect  of  a  worldliness 
as  intense  as  had  been  the  other  worldliness  of  its 
previous  associations. 

Among  the  younger  children  of  Edwards  was  a 
son  named  Jonathan,  six  years  of  age  at  the  time 
of  the  removal  to  Stockbridge,  who  illustrates  in  a 
directer  way  the  principle  of  heredity.  He  lived 
to  become  a  metaphj^sical  theologian,  following  to 
a  great  extent  in  his  father's  line  of  thought,  but 
without  his  father's  genius  or  poetic  fire,  or  that 
mystic  glow  which  lends  interest  and  beauty  to  the 
works  of  the  elder  Edwards.  There  was  also  an- 
other son,  an  infant  still  in  his  mother's  arms  when 


■0 


278  THE  PniLOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

the  migration  took  place,  who  bore  the  united 
names  of  his  parents,  Pierrepont  Edwards. 

The  town  of  Stockbridge,  when  Edwards  went 
there  in  1751,  was  ahnost  exckisively  an  Indian 
settlement.  Only  a  smaU  amount  of  land  had  been 
allotted  to  the  few  white  settlers,  who  were  for  the 
most  part  drawn  to  the  place  by  plans  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  Indians.  Though  Edwards  had 
received  and  accepted  a  call  to  the  church  in  Stock- 
bridge,  his  chief  responsibility  was  for  these  In- 
dians, to  whom  he  was  appointed  missionary  by  the 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Indian  Affairs  resid- 
ing in  Boston,  with  the  concurrence  of  a  society 
in  London  which  also  contributed  to  his  support. 
These  were  the  days  when  there  existed  in  Eng- 
land a  romantic  interest  in  the  American  Indian, 
—  an  interest  which  had  drawn  Wesley  to  Georgia, 
which  had  inspired  Pope  to  wi^ite  his  well-known 
lines ;  an  interest  which  Rousseau  and  his  school 
had  also  felt,  as  giving  support  to  their  reverence 
for  nature  as  something  higher  than  either  culture 
or  grace.  But  in  America  so  far,  little  or  nothing 
had  been  achieved  in  the  way  of  converting  the 
Indians  either  to  civilization  or  religion.  Two  ar- 
dent missionaries,  or  apostles  as  they  have  been 
called,  Eliot  and  Brainerd,  had  consecrated  their 
lives  to  this  end,  but  without  any  permanent  re- 
sult beyond  their  own  manifestation  as  types  of 
the  great  Protestant  missionaries  of  the  future. 

To  this  work  Edwards  was  now  called  at  a  time 
of  life  when  it  was  too  late  to  adapt  himself  to  a 


TFIE  INDIANS  AT  STOCKBRIDGE.  279 

task  for  which  he  had  no  special  fitness.    His  duty 
required  him,   in  addition  to  preaching  twice  on 
Sunday  to  his  white  congregation,  to  preach  one 
sermon   to    the    Indians    through   an   interpreter. 
How  he  performed  this  function  may  be  seen  in 
the  plan  of  one  of  his  sermons,  prepared  expressly 
for  the  purpose.^     It  shows  an  effort  at  adaptation 
of  statement,  but  one  can  hardly  think  it  was  suc- 
cessful.    The  minute  divisions   and   sub-divisions 
still  remind  us  of  the  author  of  the  Freedom  of 
the  Will.    Edwards,  however,  may  have  gained  the 
confidence  and  love  of  his  Indian  auditors  by  his 
untiring  and  disinterested  labors  in  their  behalf. 
In  this,  too,  he  was  assisted  by  his  family,  of  whom 
he  speaks  in  one  of  his  letters  as  being  greatly 
liked  by  the  Indians,  and  more  particularly  liis 
wife.     The   moment  when   he  arrived    at    Stock- 
brids-e  was  one  of  ^reat  confusion  in  Indian  af- 
fairs.     There  was  no  lack  of  money  to  carry  on 
the  work  among  them,  but  on  the  part  of  some  of 
the  white  settlers  there  was  a  disposition  to  secure 
the  money  for  themselves,  and  leave  the  Indian  to 
his  own  devices.     The  story  of  Edwards'  relations 
with  the  Indians    reads  like   an    extract  from  a 
modern  newspaper,  detailing  the  conflict  between 
the  enemies  and  friends   of  tliis  unfortunate  peo- 
ple ;  private    avarice   diverting  funds  from  their 
appointed  course,  while   an  honest,  incorruptible 
man  refuses  to  make  himself  a  party  to  the  trans- 

1  Cf.  Grossart,  Selections  from  the  Unpublished  Writings  of  Ed- 
wards, p.  191.  * 


280  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

action.  Edwards  was  an  evil  genius  to  those  wlio 
were  using  tlie  Indians  for  their  private  emoki-  : 
ment.  Among  these  was  a  member  of  a  certain 
prominent  family  in  the  colony,  who  had  done 
what  he  could  to  prevent  Edwards'  call  to  Stock- 
bridge.  The  account  of  Edwards'  connection  with 
this  family  suggests  some  bitter  feud,  which  is  left 
unexplained.  When  Edwards  first  proposed  to 
preach  against  Arminianism  in  1734,  it  was  from 
another  member  of  the  same  family  that  he  met 
with  strenuous  opposition  to  his  project.  Still 
other  re]3resentatives  of  this  family,  residing  in  or 
near  Northampton,  had  abetted  the  disaffection 
which  led  to  his  dismissal.  In  Stockbridge  he 
was  again  confronted  with  the  same  hostility. 
Edwards'  fortunes  recall  those  of  Athanasius,  who 
seemed  to  arouse  against  himself  a  certain  malig- 
nant hostility,  and  apparently  for  no  other  reason 
than  his  unflinching  integrity. 

Edwards  would  not  be  called  a  practical  man. 
But  no  man  of  affairs  could  have  been  better  fitted 
than  he  was  to  detect  the  avariciousness  which 
crippled  the  Indian  mission,  and  to  follow  it 
through  all  its  disguises.  He  had  not  studied  in 
vain  the  tortuous  ways  of  the  Arminians  in  the 
field  of  theology.  The  man  who  had  devoted  a 
volume  to  exposing  the  misrepresentations  of  Wil- 
liams, or  followed  up  in  elaborate  letters  the  in- 
accurate statement  of  Rector  Clap,  had  learned 
how  to  deal  with  any  adversary,  whether  in  the 
sphere  of  ecclesiastical  controversy  or  of  practical 


i 


THE   FREEDOM   OF   THE    WILL.  281 

life.  When  it  came  to  showing  up  the  true  state 
of  Indian  affairs,  there  was  no  one  who  coukl  stand 
in  comparison  with  him.  In  this  case  it  was  no 
ecclesiastical  council  to  whom  his  appeal  was  car- 
ried, but  sensible  men  devoted  to  a  Christian  pur- 
pose, who  only  asked  for  the  truth.  He  was  sus- 
tained by  those  to  whom  his  long  correspondence 
was  directed.-  For  two  years  or  more  he  carried 
on  the  hard  fight,  till  he  was  rewarded  by  seeing 
the  man  who  was  the  cliief  source  of  the  trouble 
abandon  Stockbridge,  and  leave  the  field  a  free 
one  for  the  friends  of  truth  and  righteousness. 
But  in  the  mean  time  the  Indians  had  suffered 
from  this  struggle  over  their  weKare.  PuUed 
about  as  they  were  between  contending  factions, 
realizing  but  little  good  from  the  efforts  in  their 
behalf, — from  this  and  from  other  causes,  they 
ceased  to  regard  Stockbridge  as  their  reserve. 
The  peace  which  had  come  to  Edwards  was  littk 
more  than  a  deeper  solitude. 


II. 

THE   FEEEDOM   OF   THE  WILL. 

Edwards  was  now  at  leisure  to  take  up  some 
larger  work  than  any  which  he  had  hitherto  at- 
tempted. At  this  time,  also,  he  seems  to  have  re- 
verted to  the  speculations  which  had  interested 
him  when  he  was  a  boy  in  college  writing  his  Notes 


282  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

upon  the  Mind.  Bilt  the  gulf  of  more  than  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  hiy  between  him  and  that  early 
dream,  so  suddenly  and  strangely  relinquished,  of 
interpreting  the  universe  in  accordance  with  the  i 
absolute  reason.  Meantime  his  thoughts  had  been 
running  so  long  in  the  grooves  of  a  religious  con- 
troversy which  was  still  unfinished,  that  he  could 
not  escape  the  fascinations  which  it  offered,  —  the 
temptation  to  make  some  final  and  permanent  ef- 
fort for  the  maintenance  of  the  Calvinistic  theol- 
ogy. So  far  as  he  reverted  to  his  early  specula- 
tions, it  seems  to  have  been  mainly  for  the  purpose 
of  laying  a  deeper  basis  for  the  argument  against 
Arminianism. 

Hitherto  he  had  assaulted  the  foe  chiefly  on  re- 
ligious grounds.  But  it  had  long  been  apparent 
to  him  that  the  hinge  of  the  whole  controversy  was 
the  speculative  issue  regarding  the  freedom  of  the 
will.  Out  of  the  Arminian  doctrine  that  the 
will  was  free,  in  the  sense  of  possessing  a  self- 
determining  power,  grew,  as  he  thought,  the  arro- 
gant disposition  to  despise  the  Calvinistic  notions 
of  God's  sovereignty  and  moral  government,  the 
contempt  for  "  the  doctrines  of  grace,"  the  dislike 
to  experimental  religion,  the  cultivation  of  a  moral- 
ity which  read  out  the  divine  existence  from  the 
sj)here  of  human  interests.  Everything  vital  was 
at  stake  in  the  doctrine  of  the  human  wdll.  So 
strongly  was  he  convinced  of  this  that  in  his  most 
impressive  manner  he  declared  himself  ready  to 
admit,  that  if   the  Arminians  could  demonstrate 


i 


A   LITERARY  SENSATION.  283 

tlie  self -determining  power  of  the  will,  tliey  had  an 
impregnable  fortress  against  every  Chi'istian  doc- 
trine which  he  held  most  dear.  To  the  task,  then, 
of  demolishing  this  stronghold  he  devoted  himself 
with  the  momentum  of  thought,  and  energy,  and 
indignation  which  had  been  gathering  for  many 
years.  So  intense  was  the  spirit  wdth  which  he 
labored  that  in  four  months  he  finished  the  com- 
position of  the  work  on  which,  more  than  on  any 
other  of  his  writings,  his  world-wide  reputation  has 
rested,  —  a  work  which  produced  so  deep  an  im- 
pression that  it  still  continues  to  be  spoken  of  as 
"the  one  large  contribution  which  America  has  \ 
made  to  the  deeper  philosophic  thought  of  the 
world." 

The  treatise  on  the  Will  was  published  in  1754, 
and  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  literary  sensa- 
tions of  the  last  century.  It  was  more  than  that, 
—  it  was,  to  a  large  part  of  the  religious  world,  a 
veritable  shock,  staggering  alike  to  the  reason  and 
the  moral  sense.  The  age  was  accustomed  to  sim- 
ilar views  from  infidels  and  free-thinkers  such  as 
Hobbes,  and  Collins,  and  Hume  were  reputed  to 
be.  There  were  others,  too,  calling  themselves 
Christians,  such  as  Hartley,  and  Tucker,  and  Priest- 
ley, who  denied  the  freedom  of  the  will,  but  with- 
out awakening  the  indignation  which  was  caused 
by  Edwards'  assertion  of  the  same  principle.  For 
here  was  one  who  rose  up  in  the  name  of  religion 
and  morality,  whose  high  character  was  acknowl- 
edged by  all,  whose  genius  was  indisputable,  whose 


284  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

reasoning  seemed  in\ancible,  and  who  seemed  to  be 
clasping  hands  with  materialists  and  atheists  in  be- 
half of  the  doctrine  that  the  will  was  not  free  to 
choose  between  good  and  evil.  Edwards'  teaching, 
also,  was  associated  in  the  public  mind  with  his 
other  beliefs,  —  the  divine  sovereignty,  decrees  of 
election  and  reprobation,  an  everlasting  hell  which 
was  yawning  for  the  reception  of  a  majority  of  the 
human  race.  It  now  added  an  element  of  inex- 
pressible horror  to  the  situation  if  it  was  also  true 
that  the  will  was  not  free  to  choose  between  good 
and  evil.  J 

Edwards'  work  on  the  Will  was  but  the  cul-  ■ 
mination  of  the  reaction  which  he  had  signalled 
when  he  preached  his  Boston  sermon  on  Depend- 
ence in  1731.  His  work  was  received  by  his  fel- 
low-religionists with  exultant  testimonies  to  its 
power  and  value.  There  was  among  the  Calvinists 
a  general  conviction  that  he  had  annihilated  Ar- 
minianism.  From  being  ashamed  of  their  cause, 
they  now  felt  themselves  forever  absolved  from  the 
disgraceful  necessity  of  bowing  in  the  house  of 
Rimmon,  which  had  led  so  many  of  their  number, 
a  Doddridge  or  a  Watts,  to  admit  the  seK-determin- 
ing  power  of  the  will.  In  the  enthusiastic  words 
of  Jonathan  Edwards  the  Younger ;  "  Now,  there- 
fore, the  Calvinists  find  themselves  placed  upon 
firm  and  high  ground.  They  fear  not  the  attacks 
of  their  opponents.  They  face  them  on  the  ground 
of  reason  as  well  as  of  Scripture.  Kather  have 
they  carried  the  war  into  Italy  and  to  the  very 


IMPRESSIVE   TESTIMONY.  285 

gates  of  Rome."  ^  Long  after  its  iirst  appearance 
the  same  testimony  continued  to  be  borne.  "  There 
is  no  European  divine,"  said  Dr.  Chahners,  "to 
whom  I  make  such  frequent  appeals ;  no  book  of 
human  composition  which  I  more  strenuously  rec- 
ommend than  his  Treatise  on  the  Will,  read  by  me 
forty-seven  years  ago,  with  a  conviction  that  has 
never  since  faltered,  and  which  has  helped  me 
more  than  any  other  uninspired  book  to  find  my 
way  through  all  that  might  otherwise  have  proved 
baffling,  and  transcendental,  and  mysterious  in 
the  pecidiarities  of  Calvinism."  ^  In  a  passage 
frequently  quoted,  Sir  James  Mackintosh  speaks 
of  Edwards'  power  of  subtle  argument  as  "  per- 
haps unmatched,  certainly  unsurpassed,  among 
men."  ^  Dugald  Stewart  regarded  him  as  not  in- 
ferior to  disputants  bred  in  the  best  universities  of 
Europe.  It  is  said  that  in  conversation  he  once 
remarked  that  the  argmnent  of  the  Freedom  of  the 
Will  had  not  been  and  could  not  be  answered. 
The  late  Isaac  Taylor,  who  edited  an  English  edi- 
tion of  the  work,  esteemed  it  "  a  classic  in  metar 
physics,"  though  regretting  the  mixture  of  the 
metaphysical  with  the  Scriptural  argiunent.  He 
also  thought  that  Edwards  had  achieved  his  im- 
mediate object  of  demolishing  the  Arminian  notion 
of  contingency,  and  that  his  influence  had  been 
much  greater  than  those  who  had  yielded  to  it  had 

1  Edwards  the  Younger,  Worlcs^  vol.  i.  p.  484. 

2  Chalmers,  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  318. 

^  Progress  of  Ethical  Philosophy,  p.  108,  Am.  ed. 


286  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

always  confessed.  Among  other  things  which  Ed- 
wards had  taught  the  world  was  "to  be  less  flip- 
pant." ^  A  writer  in  the  Christian  Spectator  for 
1823  expressed  the  prevalent  opinion  when  he  re- 
marked that  it  was  curious  to  observe  how  few 
attempts  had  been  made  formally  to  answer  any  of 
those  larger  works  in  which  Edwards  put  forth  his 
strength.  ''  Nibbling  enough  about  the  points  of 
his  arguments  there  has  certainly  been,  but  for  the 
most  part  it  has  been  extremely  chary;  and  we 
suspect  that  the  few  who  have  taken  hold  in  ear- 
nest have  in  the  end  found  pretty  good  reason  to 
repent  of  their  temerity."  The  general  impression 
that  Edwards'  argument  was  invincible  drove  those 
who  resisted  his  conclusion  to  making  an  appeal 
to  the  consciousness  in  opposition  to  the  intellect, 
as  the  only  available  alternative  ;  or,  in  the  words 
of  Dr.  Johnson  to  Bos  well,  "  We  know  that  we  are 
free  and  there  's  an  end  on  't."  Even  so  late  as 
1864,  a  distinguished  American  writer,  Mr.  Hazard, 
introduced  his  Review  of  Edwards  on  the  Will  by 
remarking  that  the  soundness  of  his  premises  and 
the  cogency  of  his  logic  were  so  generally  admitted 
that  "  almost  by  common  consent  his  positions  are 
deemed  impregnable,  and  the  hope  of  subverting 
them  by  direct  attack  abandoned." 

In  view  of'  these  tributes  of  admiration,  and 
many  others  which  could  be  adduced,  it  is  unnec- 
essary to  remark  that  a  high  place  must  be   as- 

1  Introductory  Essay  to  his  edition  of   Freedom  of  the  Willi 

p.  XXV. 


DEFINITION    OF  THE   WILL.  287 

signed  in  literature  to  Edwards  on  the  Will. 
Like  Butler's  Analogy,  it  belongs  among  the  few 
great  books  in  English  theology.  It  may  claim 
the  great  and  peculiar  honor  of  having  first 
opened  up  to  the  world  a  new  subject  of  interest, 
—  the  neglected  and  almost  unknown  sphere  of 
the  human  will  in  its  vast  extent  and  mystery. 
It  attempted  to  fill  an  empty  niche  in  the  corri- 
dors of  human  thought.  From  an  historical  point 
of  view,  no  one  can  question  its  significance. 
Whether  its  importance  is  now  more  than  histor- 
ical, it  is  fairly  open  to  doubt.  The  book  is  a 
difficult  one  to  read,  and  this  difficulty  has  been 
generally  supposed  to  lie  in  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
ject rather  than  in  the  author's  method  of  exposi- 
tion. But  the  close  scrutiny  to  which  it  has  been 
subjected  has  revealed  a  confusion  in  Edwards' 
mind  as  one  source  of  the  difficulty  which  the  stu- 
dent encounters.^  The  work  starts  out  with  a 
definition  of  the  will  as  "  that  by  which  the  mind 
chooses  anything,"  — a  definition  which  might  be 
allowed  to  stand,  though  far  from  being  an  ade- 
quate one.  But  even  to  this  definition  Edwards 
does  not  adhere.  Hardly  is  he  launched  in  his 
argiunent  when  he  is  found  resting  upon  another 
ground,  —  that  the  will  is  that  by  which  the  mind 

^  Among  other  American  critics  of  Edwards'  argument  besides 
the  late  Mr.  Hazard,  are  Bledsoe,  Examinatioyi  of  Edwards  on 
the  Will ;  Whedon,  The  Freedom  of  the  Will  as  a  Basis  of  Moral 
Besponsihility  ;  Tappan,  Revieio  of  Edwards''  Inquiry,  etc.  In  Mr. 
Martineau's  recent  work,  .1  Study  of  Religion,  there  is  an  admira- 
ble criticism  of  Edwards'  attitude.    Cf .  vol.  ii.  chap.  2. 


288  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

desires  or  inclines  to  anything ;  and  this  ambigu- 
ity of  the  word  "  choice "  runs  throughout  the 
treatise.  In  his  Notes  on  the  Mind  he  had  identi- 
fied inclination  with  will :  to  this  principle  he  had 
clung  throughout  his  career  as  a  practical  theolo- 
gian; it  now  turns  up  again  in  this  "speculative 
treatise,  and  becomes  the  basis  of  his  opinion 
regarding  the  nature  of  freedom  and  of  human 
responsibility.  If  a  man  possesses  an  inclination, 
however  derived,  and  has  the  natural  power  to 
gratify  it,  he  is  free.  If  his  inclination  be  evil,  he 
is  a  proper  subject  of  condemnation,  or  of  ap- 
proval if  his  inclination  be  right.  But  the  ability 
to  reverse  the  inclination,  or  ^6  choose  between  the 
good  and  the  evil,  is  no  prerogative  of  the  will. 

The  most  striking  feature  of  Edwards'  position 
is  its  close  agreement  with  the  attitude  of  the  phys- 
ical or  materialistic  school  of  philosophy  in  his 
own  and  in  a  later  age.  There  is  no  difference 
between  his  doctrine  and  that  of  the  ancient 
Stoics,  or  of  the  famous  philosopher  Hobbes,  who 
shocked  the  religious  world  of  his  day  by  his  un- 
spiritual  method  of  dealing  with  religious  tilings.^ 

if 

1  Edwards  declared  that  he  had  not  read  HobTics.  Hume  he 
seems  to  have  read  after  his  own  work  was  published.  One 
would  like  to  know  whether  he  had  read  Collins'  Philosophic  In- 
quiry Concerning  Human  Liberty,  in  which  views  identical  with 
his  own  are  advocated.  It  has  been  remarked  that  Collins'  little 
work  would  have  made  an  admirable  introduction  to  Edwards' 
treatise.  Edwards  makes  no  allusion  to  him,  thoug-h  his  book, 
must  have  been  widely  known.  Cf.  Professor  Fisher's  valuable 
remarks  in  Discussions,  etc.,  pp.  234,  235. 


^k^         THE  QUESTION  AT  ISSUE.  289 

There  is  no  perceptible  difference  between  Edwards 
and  David  Hume  on  the  vital  question  of  the  na- 
ture of  causation.  A  cause  is  defined  to  be,  not 
only  that  which  has  a  positive  tendency  to  produce 
a  thino',  but  it  includes  also  all  antecedents  with 
which  consequent  events  are  connected,  whether 
they  have  any  positive  influence  in  producing  them 
or  not.  He  assumes  that  uniform  causes  are  fol- 
lowed by  uniform  results.  In  this  respect  he  is 
also  at  one  with  the  late  John  Stuart  Mill,  affirm- 
ing the  common  principle  that  the  life  of  hmnan- 
ity,  like  that  of  outward  nature,  is  involved  in  the 
meshes  of  necessity.  The  invariableness  of  the 
order  of  nature,  man  as  the  creature  of  outward 
circumstance,  the  iron  chain  of  necessity  which  con- 
trols human  character  and  conduct,  —  these  things, 
as  Mr.  Mill  has  taught  them,  are  paralleled  by 
Edwards'  view  of  a  w^orld  in  which  every  event  in 
nature  or  in  human  experience  is  decreed  by  an 
Infinite  Will,  and  in  the  nature  of  the  case  cannot 
be  other\vise  than  it  is. 

Edwards'  argument  against  the  freedom  of  the 
human  will,  in  the  sense  of  a  power  to  choose  be- 
tween good  and  evil,  gains  its  force  from  the 
assumption  of  the  thing  to  be  proved.  There  is 
no  movement  in  his  thought  beyond  this  assum^)- 
tion  that  every  event  must  have  some  external 
cause.  But  the  question  at  issue  is,  whether  the 
will  be  not  itself  a  creative  cause,  endowed  with 
the  power  of  initiating  acts,  of  choosing  between 
motives,  nay,  even  of  creating  a  motive  to  itself. 


290  THE  PETLOSOPHICAL  THEOLOGIAN, 

The  illusion  under  which  Edwards  labors  is  in 
looking  at  man  as  part  o£  nature,  instead  of  as  a 
personal  being,  who,  rising  above  nature,  has  in 
himseK  the  power  of  new  beginnings.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  follow  him  in  the  phases  of  his  argu- 
ment as  with  matchless  subtilty  he  reiterates  the 
principle  that  every  event  must  have  a  cause.  It 
only  requires  to  start  with  another  definition  of 
the  will,  as,  like  the  divine  will,  "a  creative  first 
cause,"  —  wherein  also  lies  the  image  of  God  in 
the  creature,  —  and  Edwards'  objections  not  only 
fail  to  overcome  this  counter  principle,  but  even 
tend  to  its  confirmation. 

But  it  is,  after  all,  the  religious  argument,  and 
not  the  metaphysical,  upon  which  Edwards'  chief 
reliance  depends  in  refuting  the  doctrine  of  the 
self-determining  power  of  the  will.  If  the  will 
were  free  to  choose  between  good  and  evil,  then 
there  would  be  uncertainty  as  to  the  result  of  its 
choice,  and  God's  foreknowledge  of  the  volitions 
of  moral  agents  would  be  impossible.  If  the 
Divine  Mind  could  not  foreknow  with  infallible 
certainty  the  acts  of  the  creature,  how  could 
events  be  decreed  with  the  infallible  certainty  of 
their  accomplishment  ?  The  divine  action  must  in 
consequence  be  subject  to  constant  revision,  the 
divine  immutability  give  way  to  infinitely  numer- 
ous changes  of  intention.  But  this  seemed  to 
Edwards  as  contradictory  to  Scripture  as  it  was  to 
reason  and  to  the  moral  sense.  The  Bible,  as  he 
read  it,  abounded  in  the  prediction  of  events  at- 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ARGUMENT.  29 

tributecl  to  God.  To  admit  the  possibility  of  the 
uncertainty  of  human  actions  seemed  also  to  in- 
volve a  tacit  atheism.  Such  an  admission  limited 
the  divine  omniscience,  and  endangered  the  omni- 
potence of  God.  The  divine  Being  would  then  be 
conceived  as  standing  at  the  mercy  of  man,  wait- 
ing for  the  human  will  to  determine  its  course. 
For  such  a  deity,  too  feeble  to  govern  the  world 
which  He  had  made,  a  Calvinist  like  Edwards 
could  have  no  respect.  The  God  of  the  Armin- 
ians  was  to  him  no  God  at  all. 

The  issue  which  is  here  raised  is  a  serious  one, 
confronting  every  earnest  thinker.  While  we  are 
concerned  in  this  discussion,  not  so  much  with  the 
replies  that  have  been  or  may  be  made  to  Edwards' 
position,  yet  it  may  be  said  in  passing  that  we  are 
not  necessarily  shut  up  to  the  alternatives  of  sacri- 
ficing human  freedom,  or  limiting  the  divine  omni- 
science. It  is  not  difficult  to  conceive  that  the 
Infinite  Mind  may  be  competent  to  take  into  ac- 
count every  use  that  man  may  make  of  his  free- 
dom, and  to  govern  the  world  accordingly.  Even 
if  it  were  required  to  conceive  the  divine  omni- 
science as  seK-limited  in  order  to  the  free  develop- 
ment of  the  creature,  this  does  not  make  impossible 
the  divine  moral  government.  It  then  would  be- 
conie  a  feature  of  the  world-process  as  God  has 
ordered  it,  that  the  free  will  of  man  shall  be  the 
means  through  wliich  the  divine  purpose  is  to  be 
accomplished.  To  govern  the  world,  and  yet  allow 
full  scope  to  human  freedom,  is  a  task  more  diffi- 


292  TEE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

cult,  and  therefore  worthier  of  God.  It  is  a  grave 
objection  to  Edwards'  conception  of  the  universe 
that,  when  God  has  once  decreed  the  course  of  hu- 
man affairs  down  to  its  smallest  detail,  there  re- 
mains no  further  opportunity  for  the  creative 
divine  activity.  The  same  result  would  be  ob- 
tained if  for  God  were  substituted  the  action  of 
force  or  of  unchanging  law.^ 

It  had  formed  an  essential  part  of  Edwards' 
plan  in  the  treatment  of  his  subject,  to  show  that 
the  Arminian  idea  of  the  freedom  of  will  —  as 
implying  a  self  -  determining  power,  or  power  to 
choose  between  good  and  evil  —  was  not  only  untrue 
in  itseK,  but  was  not  necessary  to  moral  agency. 
He  had  done  this,  apparently  to  his  entire  satisfac- 
tion, in  the  third  part  of  his  book,  where  he  elab- 
orates his  thought  at  some  length.  But  the 
scholarly  recluse  may  become  so  accustomed  to  his 
own  line  of  reflection  as  to  be  out  of  touch  with 
the  popular  mind,  which  draws  inferences  from 
premises  of  its  own,  the  ground  of  which  lies  too 
deej)  to  be  disturbed  by  speculative  discussion. 
The  popular  inference  from  Edwards'  argument 
was,  that  he  had  denied  the  freedom  of  the  will, 
and  in  so  doing  had  shaken  the  truth  of  moral  ac- 
countability.     In    Scotland,  where  his  work  had 


^  Edwards'  biblical  arg'ument  is  a  defective  one.  But  it  in- 
volves questions  of  Biblical  criticism,  —  the  relation  between  the 
revelation  and  its  record,  —  and  cannot  here  be  criticised.  Ac- 
cording" to  Edwards,  Scripture  reads  like  one  continuous  chap- 
ter of  fulfilled  prophecy.  His  interpretation  of  history  is  in 
harmony  with  his  view  of  life,  as  ordered  by  divine  decrees. 


J 


LORD  KAMES'    CONCLUSION.  293 

been  long  expected  and  was  eagerly  received,  this 
inference  was  also  drawn  by  the  celebrated  Lord 
Karnes,  who  was  entangled  in  speculations  of  his 
own  on  the  same  subject,  and  who  hailed  Edwards 
as  a  kindred  sj)irit  coming  to  his  relief.  Lord 
Karnes  had  deduced  the  natural  conclusion  that, 
"  if  motives  are  not  under  our  power  or  direction, 
we  can  at  bottom  have  no  liberty."  He  also  rea- 
soned that  the  human  consciousness,  which  attests 
a  sense  of  liberty,  must  be  therefore  a  delusion, 
implanted  in  the  soul  in  order  to  give  men  a  sense 
of  responsibility  for  their  acts.  An  anonymous 
pamphlet  was  also  issued  in  Scotland  in  which  it 
was  maintained  that,  if  Edwards'  teaching  were 
true,  it  was  better  that  it  should  not  be  known,  as 
it  would  endanger  the  feeling  of  human  account- 
ability. Edwards  seems  to  have  been  surprised 
and  indignant  when  he  learned  through  his  friend 
and  correspondent,  Dr.  Erskine,  how  his  views  were 
interpreted  by  those  Avith  whom  he  had  no  sympa^ 
thy.  In  order  to  put  his  meaning  beyond  the 
power  of  misinterpretation,  he  wrote  an  open  let- 
ter, which  has  ever  since  been  appended  to  his 
treatise  on  the  Will,  in  which  he  defined  his  atti- 
tude as:ainst  those  who  understood  him  to  hold  that 
the  will  was  not  free. 

How,  then,  did  he  discriminate  his  position  from 
philosophical  necessitarians,  as  they  are  called,  who 
agreed  with  him  in  holding  that  the  will  has  no 
power  to  choose  between  good  and  evil  ?  It  is  a 
curious  and  remarkable  case  of  how  a  subtle  and 


294  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL    THEOLOGIAN. 

powerful  mind  may  fall  into  captivity  to  tlie  bond- 
ao-e  of  words.  Edwards  now  declared  that  he 
held  to  the  freedom  of  the  will,  because  freedom 
consisted,  not  in  one's  power  of  choosing-  between 
alternatives,  but  in  his  power  to  pursue  his  incli- 
nation without  restraint.  Because  a  man's  actions 
were  necessitated,  or  certain  to  take  j^lace  just  as 
they  did,  it  did  not  follow  that  he  acted  under 
compulsion.  Indeed,  he  was  quite  willing  to  give 
up  all  such  words  as  "  necessity  "  or  "  inability  " 
when  applied  to  the  will.  What  he  contended  for 
was  only  the  certainty  that  men's  actions  would 
take  the  shape  they  did,  and  that  without  any  feel- 
ing, on  their  part,  of  compulsion  or  restraint.  So 
long  as  there  was  no  sense  of  compulsion,'%  man 
was  free,  no  matter  liow/  he  came  by  his  inclina- 
tion, or  how  infallibly  certain  that  his  action  should 
be  what  it  was. 

It  is  rather  to  the  credit  of  the  necessitarians, 
with  whose  principles  Edwards  agreed  while  he 
disliked  their  alliance,  that  they  refused  to  escape 
the  consequences  of  their  theory  by  what  seems  a 
hollow  evasion  or  mere  jugglery  with  words.  Cal- 
vin also  had  held  consistently  to  the  same  convic- 
tion that  the  will  did  not  possess  the  power  to 
choose  between  good  and  evil.  He  had  even  de- 
nounced with  something  of  scorn  in  his  tone  the 
manner  of  those  who,  while  accepting  this  view, 
still  maintained  that  a  man  was  free  "  because  he 
acts  voluntarily  and  not  by  compulsion."  "  This 
is  perfectly  true,"  he  adds,  "but  why  shoidd  so 


EDWARDS'    IDEA    OF  FREEDOM.  295 

small  a  matter  have  been  dignified  with  so  proud 
a  title  ?  An  admirable  freedom  I  —  that  man  is  not 
forced  to  be  the  servant  of  sin,  while  he  is,  how- 
ever, a  voluntary  slave  ;  his  will  being  bound  by 
the  fetters  of  sin.  I  abominate  mere  verbal  dis- 
putes, by  which  the  church  is  harassed  to  no  pur- 
pose ;  but  I  think  we  ought  religiously  to  eschew 
terms  which  imply  some  absurdity,  especially  in 
subjects  where  error  is  of  pernicious  consequence. 
How  few  there  are  who,  when  they  hear  free  will 
attributed  to  man,  do  not  inunediately  imagine  that 
he  is  the  master  of  his  mind  and  will,  and  can  in- 
cline himself  either  to  good  or  evil !  "  ^  But  this 
small  matter,  as  Calvin  rightly  deemed  it,  Edwards 
chose  10  dignify,  in  the  emergency  of  his  conflict, 
with  the  proud  title  of  freedom.  There  is  even  a 
tone  of  passion  in  its  advocacy.  He  contends  that 
he  differs  from  necessitarians  like  Lord  Karnes 
by  holding  to  freedom  in  the  highest  sense.  "  No 
Arminian,  Pelagian,  or  Epicurean,"  he  exclaimed, 
"  can  rise  higher  in  his  conception  of  freedom  than 
the  notion  of  it  which  I  have  explained.  .  .  .  And 
I  scruple  not  to  say,  it  is  beyond  all  their  wits  to 
invent  a  higher  notion  or  form  a  higher  imagina- 
tion of  liberty;  let  them  talk  of  sovereignty  of 
the  will,  seK-determining  power,  self-motion,  self- 
direction,  arbitrary  decision,  liberty  ad  utruinois, 
power  of  choosing  differently  in  given  cases,  etc., 
as  long  as  they  will."  But  Calvin  was  right  when 
he  foresaw  the  consequences  of  dignifying  so  small 

;  ^  institutes  of  Christian  Religion^  book  ii.  ch.  ii.  p.  7. 


296  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

a  matter  witli  so  proud  a  title.  From  a  fear  of 
being  understood  to  deny  the  freedom  of  the  will, 
coupled  as  it  was  in  the  popular  mind  with  the 
sense  of  responsibility,  the  preachers  who  followed 
Edwards  magnified  his  meagre  conception  of  free- 
dom, and  felt  justified  in  using  the  Arminian 
nomenclature.  In  this  way  Edwards'  idea  of  free- 
dom became  a  bridge  of  transition  to  a  modern 
Calvinism  in  which  liberty  is  conceded  in  the 
fuller  sense  as  a  ]3ower  to  choose  between  good 
and  evil. 

But  we  reach  the  momentous  outcome  of  Ed- 
wards' argument  when  he  applies  this  same  idea  of 
freedom  to  the  sovereign  will  of  God.  To  the  con- 
clusion that  this  was  the  only  freedom  predicable 
of  God,  he  was  driven  by  the  necessities  of  his 
thought.  He  was  laboring  to  show  that  man  is 
free,  although  possessing  no  power  to  choose  be- 
tween good  and  evil,  —  free  even  though  his  action 
be  necessary  or  certain  ;  and  if  free,  then  responsi- 
ble for  his  action,  and  deserving  of  praise  or  blame. 
To  establish  this  point  he  drew  an  illustration  from 
the  person  of  Christ,  with  whom  there  was  a  neces- 
sity to  the  right  and  an  impossibility  to  sin,  and 
yet  He  was  morally  responsible,  and  his  conduct  a 
proper  subject  of  moral  approval.  From  this  very 
inadequate  conception  of  the  personality  of  Christ, 
he  passed  on  to  the  consideration  of  the  being  of 
God.  God  also  is  free  only  to  do  what  is  right, 
—  free  only  in  the  sense  that  He  has  the  j^ower  to 
carry  out  the  divine  inclination.     The  divine  free- 


I 


THE    DIVINE   FREEDOM  DISAPPEARS.  297 

clom  is  therefore  but  another  name  for  a  divine 
and  eternal  necessity.  Behind  the  divine  will 
there  lies  an  immutable  divine  wisdom,  to  which 
the  will  of  God  must  in  the  nature  of  the  case  con- 
form. But  here  one  is  forced  to  ask  what  becomes 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  sovereignty,  which 
played  so  large  a  part  in  Edwards'  earlier  writings, 
which,  as  he  had  presented  it,  implied  in  the  divine 
will  a  power  to  the  contrary.  How  often  had  he 
asserted,  that  God  was  under  no  obligation  to  save 
man  after  the  fall ;  that  when,  in  the  exercise  of 
His  sovereign  will.  He  had  determined  to  do  so,  it 
was  still  a  matter  of  His  arbitrary  mil  whom  He 
would  save  and  whom  He  would  reject !  "  He  choos- 
eth  whom  He  will,  and  whom  He  will,  He  harden- 
eth."  The  two  doctrines,  are  plainly  incompatible. 
Sovereignty,  as  he  had  preached  it,  contradicts  ne- 
cessity. The  divine  sovereignty  was  the  last  relic 
of  freedom,  when  it  had  been  denied  elsewhere. 
But  it  now  appears  as  having  no  justification  at 
the  bar  of  reason.  Even  in  Edwards'  conscious- 
ness from  the  first,  it  had  been  a  mysterious  con- 
viction, the  genesis  of  which  he  could  not  explain. 
It  is  plain  that  a  change  is  now  taking  place  in  his 
mind  as  to  the  nature  of  God,  which  is  funda- 
mental and  revolutionary  in  its  character.  The 
Aug-ustinian  idea  of  God  as  arbitrary,  uncondi- 
tioned will,  is  growing  weak  in  the  presence  of 
another  conception,  —  the  definition  of  God  as  the 
one  substance  of  whose  thouoht  the  world  of 
created  things  is  the  necessary  manifestation.     But 


298  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL    THEOLOGIAN. 

tliroughout  the  universe  there  is  no  place  for  the 
freedom  of  the  will. 

At  this  point,  which  is  the  cuhnination  of  Eel- 
wards'  argument,  there  opened  before  him  diverg- 
ing lines  of  thought,  and  which  of  them  he  should 
take  depended  on  whether  his  interest  was  stronger 
in  following  out  the  line  of  speculation  about  the 
nature  of  God  and  its  relation  to  man,  or  in  trac- 
ing the  origin  and  history  of  that  evil  inclination 
in  humanity  which  is  known  as  Original  Sin.  The 
discussion  of  the  latter  topic  was  required  in  order 
to  supplement  the  treatise  on  the  Will.  For  it  is 
a  noticeable  feature  of  this  treatise  that  no  effort 
is  made  to  account  for  that  inclination  to  evil  in 
every  man,  which  man  does  not  originate  within 
himself,  which  he  is  not  free  to  reverse  or  over- 
come. Elsewhere  Edwards  had  boldly  declared 
that  the  will  is  determined  by  God.  But  we  do 
not  meet  this  statement  in  any  such  emphatic  form 
in  his  work  on  The  Will.  He  preferred  to  abide 
by  the  negative  demonstration  that  the  acts  of  the 
will  are  rendered  certain  by  some  other  cause  than 
the  mere  power  of  willing.  What  that  remoter 
cause  may  be  is  not  specially  considered.  He  does 
not  go  beyond  the  statement  that  the  will  is  deter- 
mined by  that  motive  which,  as  it  stands  in  the 
mind,  is  the  strongest,  or  that  the  will  always  is  as 
the  greatest  apparent  good  is.  In  the  vast  and 
obscure  region  of  human  motives  there  is  disclosed 
an  ample  sphere  where  God  may  work  unfelt  or 
unperceived,  where  He  may  so  influence  or  direct 


MODERN   INVESTIGATIONS.  299 

the  agencies  which  control  the  will  that  a  man 
shall  do  the  divine  bidding  while  still  acting  in 
accordance  with  his  own  inclination.  To  the  nat- 
ural objection  that  such  a  view  makes  God  the 
author  of  sin,  he  offers  a  brief  reply,  at  the  same 
time  remarking  that  he  has  not  space  to  consider 
at  length  the  question  of  the  first  entrance  of  sin 
into  the  world.  The  subject  of  original  sin  was 
then  clearly  before  his  mind.  But  the  idea  of 
God  had  a  deeper  charm  than  the  nature  of  man, 
and  its  exposition  more  imperatively  demanded  his 
attention.  Before  writing  his  work  on  Original 
Sin,  he  stopped  to  consider  the  nature  of  True  Vir- 
tue and  the  Last  End  of  God  in  the  Creation. 

With  one  brief  remark  we  must  dismiss  the 
treatise  on  the  Freedom  of  the  Will.  It  no  longer 
holds  the  same  preeminence  which  was  once  ac- 
corded to  it.  The  spell  with  which  it  was  invested 
by  an  almost  sacred  tradition  has  been  broken. 
Marred  as  it  is  by  its  controversial  purpose,  it  can- 
not be  regarded  as  a  disinterested  effort  to  reach 
the  truth.  It  is  disfigured  also  by  methods  of 
biblical  interpretation  which  have  been  discarded 
by  a  later  scholarship.  It  has  been  superseded  by 
the  advances  made  in  psychology,  —  a  study  which 
in  Edwards'  time  was  still  in  its  infancy,  —  to 
whose  progress  we  owe  the  idea  of  the  education 
of  the  will,  of  which  he  takes  no  account  whatever. 
Althouoh  the  labors  of  modern  students  in  this 
field  of  inquiry  regarding  the  will  have  by  no 
means  resulted  in  agreement,  yet  the  tendency  of 


300  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

later  investigation  lias  not  been  in  the  direction 
which  Edwards  was  following,  but  for  the  most  part 
tends  toward  the  assertion  'of  that  freedom  which 
it  was  his  aim  to  disprove.  But  none  the  less  does 
his  work  still  possess  a  worth  which  is  its  o^vn,  — 
that  pecuKar  quality  of  his  spirit,  which  gives  to 
all  his  writings  their  interest  and  value.  He  im- 
presses the  imagination,  as  does  no  other  writer, 
with  the  truth  that,  in  some  way  unexplained,  hu- 
man freedom,  however  real  or  undiminished,  must 
yet  move  and  have  its  being  within  the  sphere  of  a 
divine  determinism.  While  it  is  true,  as  Rothe 
has  taught,  that  moral  freedom  lies  in  a  mastery 
over  one's  motives,  in  the  ability  to  form  and 
modify  them  or  to  react  against  their  influence, 
yet  this  process  goes  on  in  a  world  where  God  is 
supreme,  where  the  divine  will  mingles  with  hu- 
man action  ;  or,  to  adopt  the  words  of  Coleridge, 
"  Will  any  reflecting  man  admit  that  his  own  will 
is  the  only  and  sufficient  determinant  of  all  he  is 
and  all  he  does  ?  Is  nothing  to  be  attributed  to 
the  harmony  of  the  system  to  whicli  he  belongs, 
and  to  the  preestablished  fitness  of  the  objects  and  ; 
agents,  known  and  unknown,  that  surround  him  as 
acting  on  the  will,  though  doubtless  witli  it  like- 
wise ?  —  a  process  which  the  co-instantaneous  yetj 
reciprocal  action  of  the  air  and  the  vital  energy  of] 
the  lungs  in  breathing  may  help  to  render  intel- 
ligible.'' 1 

From  Edwards'  point  of  view,  this  inward  union 

1  Aids  to  Eejlection,  Works,  Am.  ed.,  vol.  i.  p.  150. 


THE  REAL  FREEDOM.  301 

or  reconciliation  of  the  divine  with  the  human  was 
an  impossibility,  since  the  human  is  conceived  as 
having  in  itself  no  si^iritual  affiliation.  But  if  we 
may  be  allowed  to  interpret  him,  to  distinguish 
what  he  may  have  meant  to  affirm  from  what  he 
actually  teaches,  it  was  his  aim  to  enforce  that  real 
freedom  which  is  in  harmony  with  necessity,  — 
that  service  of  God  wliich  is  the  only  perfect  free- 
dom. The  Arminians,  against  whom  he  was  con- 
tending, also  misrepresented  themselves,  so  as  al- 
most to  make  it  appear  as  if  it  were  a  desirable 
thing  for  the  will  to  remain  in  a  state  of  equili- 
brium, instead  of  regarding  the  liberty  of  choice 
as  a  means  of  rising  to  a  higher  freedom  where 
the  power  to  the  contrary  disappears,  where  a  state 
is  reached  in  which  the  will  is  fixed  in  its  devo- 
tion to  righteousness  beyond  the  possibility  of 
change.  As  Edwards  contemplated  this  higher 
freedom,  he  rejoiced  in  the  necessity  which  it  in- 
volved. In  this  respect  he  is  in  agreement  with 
Augustine  and  Anselm,  with  Luther  and  Calvin, 
with  devout  souls  in  every  age  whose  eyes  are  set 
on  God,  with  the  spirit  of  all  genuine  worship, 
whose  essence  it  is  to  disown  self  in  order  to  the 
enthronement  of  the  divine. 


302  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL    THEOLOGIAN. 

III. 

DEFENCE   OF   THE   DOCTRINE   OF   ORIGINAL   SIN. 

After  the  publication  of  the  Freedom  of  the 
Will  in  1754,  Edwards  wrote  two  dissertations,  on 
the  Nature  of  True  Virtue,  and  on  God's  Last  End 
in  the  Creation,  as  well  as  other  treatises  or  essays 
which  will  be  described  in  an  ensuing  chapter. 
It  was  after  the  preparation  of  these  works  that 
he  proceeded  to  write  his  book  on  Original  Sin, 
which  was  finished  in  1757,  and  was  going  through 
the  press  at  the  time  of  his  death.  For  some 
reason  unexplained,  he  preferred  to  delay  the 
publication  of  these  earlier  dissertations.  A  ques- 
tion therefore  arises  as  to  the  order  in  which  these 
works  should  be  treated.  If  we  were  to  follow  the 
movement  of  Edwards'  mind,  in  which  there  lay 
a  certain  significance,  it  would  be  proper  to  take 
up  these  remaining  works  in  the  order  in  which 
they  were  written.  But  as  the  treatise  on  Original 
Sin  was  published  with  the  sanction  of  his  personal 
approval,  which  is  lacking  in  the  case  of  the  other 
treatises,  it  cannot  be  amiss  to  give  it  the  prece- 
dence. In  the  case  of  the  other  dissertations,  there 
is  reason  for  thinking,  that  if  he  had  lived  he 
would  have  recast  them  in  some  different  shape. 
Whichever  course  we  take,  tliere  will  be  seen  the 
profound  suggestiveness  of  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  process  in  which  he  was  engaged. 


MORAL  AGENCY.  303 

The  connection  is  a  close  one  between  tlie  trea- 
tise on  Original  Sin  and  the  doctrine  of  freedom 
set. forth  in  the  treatise  on  the  Will.  Edwards 
now  proceeds  to  show  how  man  comes  into  posses- 
sion of  that  evil  inclination  which  he  is  free  to  fol- 
low, but  not  free  to  reverse  or  overcome.  It  is 
needless  to  remark  that  this  conception, of  freedom 
implies  a  low  and  degTading  view  of  human  nature. 
The  younger  Edwards,  who  defended  his  father's 
teaching  in  a  logical  treatise  which  won  for  him 
great  distinction,  plainly  asserts  what  this  doctrine 
of  the  will  clearly  implies  :  '.'  Beasts,  therefore, 
according  to  their  measure  of  intelligence,  are  as 
free  as  men.  Intelligence,  therefore,  and  not 
liberty,  is  the  only  thing  wanting  to  constitute 
them  moral  agents."  ^  But  Edwards  himself  has 
left  us  in  no  doubt  as  to  his  meaning.  The  spirit- 
ual element,  he  teaches,  forms  no  necessary  part  of 
the  human  constitution.  It  is  something  added  to 
man  over  and  above  his  nature  as  man,  —  the 
donum  supernatitrale  of  mediaeval  theology.  Vir- 
tue, though  it  may  be  necessary  to  the  perfection 
and  well-being  of  man,  does  not  belong  to  man  as 
man.  One  may  have  everything  needful  to  his 
beinsf  a  man  where  virtue  is  excluded.^  For  one 
brief  moment  Adam,  indeed,  possessed  this  spir- 
itual element,  what  Edwards  calls  the  divine  na^ 
ture,  in  conjunction  with  his  himian  nature.     But 

1  Edwards   the    Younger,    Improvements    in     Theology,    etc., 
}Vorks,  vol.  i.  p.  483. 

2  Original  Sin,  ch.  ii.  p.  477. 


304  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

when  Adam  sinned  and  became  a  rebel  against 
God,  it  was  only  just  that  the  divine  nature  should 
be  withdrawn  from  him,  and  in  consequence  from 
all  his  posterity.  The  merely  human  was  then 
left  standing  by  itseK,  superior  only  in  its  intelli- 
gence to  the  brute  creation,  or  in  its  greater  capac- 
ity for  evil. 

The  interesting  question  now  arises.  How  came 
Adam  to  rebel  against  God,  possessed  as  he  was 
of  the  spiritual  complement  to  his  nature  which, 
it  would  seem,  shoidd  have  been  a  strong  barrier 
against  a  rising  inclination  to  sin  ?  To  this  ques- 
tion theologians  from  the  time  of  Augustine  almost 
uniformly  had  replied  that  Adam  formed  an  ex- 
ception to  his  descendants  in  possessing  the  self- 
determining  power  of  the  will,  and  thus  originated 
his  sin  by  his  own  act.  Such  also  was  the  answer 
of  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines  whose 
Confession  was  accepted  by  English  Calvinists. 
At  this  point  Edwards  made  his  first  great  innova- 
tion. He  denied  that  Adam  had  any  other  free- 
dom than  was  possessed  by  his  posterity.  He,  too, 
was  free  only  in  the  sense  that  he  could  act  accord- 
ing to  his  inclination.  For  if  Adam  had  possessed 
a  self -deter  mining  power  of  the  will,  it  would  have 
implied  uncertainty  as  to  how  he  would  act,  and 
thus  made  impossible  the  divine  foreknowledge. 
There  was  but  one  alternative  in  Edwards'  mind,  — 
that  God  had  decreed  to  permit  Adam's  sin  ;  and 
in  his  own  words,  "  sin,  if  it  be  permitted,  will  most 
certainly  and   infallibly  follow.''  ^      Although  he 

1  Freedom  of  the  Will,  §  9,  p.  157. 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  ADAM.  305 

does  not  like  the  expression,  yet  he  is  willing  to 
admit,  if  need  be,  that  God  is  the  author  of  sin. 
The  only  qualification  which  he  is  anxious  to  urge 
is,  that  the  action  of  God  in  causing  the  fall  shall 
appear  as  indirect  and  not  immediate.  He  again 
takes  refuge  in  the  land  of  motives,  where  the  di- 
vine will  may  be  active,  but  where  its  action  is  not 
seen.  "  It  was  fitting,"  he  remarks,  "  that  the 
transaction  shoidd  so  take  place  that  it  might  not 
appear  to  be  from  God  as  the  apparent  fountain."  ^ 
Yet,  as  he  also  remarks,  "  God  may  actually  in  His 
Providence  so  dispose  and  permit  things  that  the 
event  may  be  certainly  and  infallibly  connected 
with  such  disposal  and  permission." 

In  all  this,  Edwards  emphatically  disclaims  the 
inference  that  God  implants  or  infuses  any  evil 
thing  in  Adam's  nature.  Let  the  disclaimer  be 
put  to  the  credit  of  his  heart  which  prevented  him 
from  admitting  in  words  what  his  thought  unplied. 
The  first  man,  as  he  has  portrayed  him,  becomes, 
as  to  his  personality,  a  shadowy,  impossible  thing, 
a  type  of  existence  solitary  and  unclassified,  as  if 
neither  animal,  or  man,  or  angel,  —  an  opportunity 
as  it  were  for  the  operation  of  the  divine  will,  or 
the  manifestation  of  the  divine  wisdom.  But  how 
does  the  case  stand  with  his  descendants  ?  We 
are  now  told  that  when  Adam  sinned  by  rebellion, 
it  was  only  just  and  fitting  that  God  should  with- 
draw from  his  posterity  those  superior  principles 
of  the  divine  nature  which  had  been  implanted  in 

1  Freedom  of  the  Will,  p.  161. 


306  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL    THEOLOGIAN. 

Adam,  and  wherein  consisted  the  image  of  God. 
"  The  Holy  Spirit,  that  divine  inhabitant,  now  for- 
sook the  house."  It  was  with  man  as  with  a  room 
where  the  light  ceases  when  the  candle  is  with- 
drawn. Nothing  was  left  but  human  nature,  a 
state  of  woful  corruption  and  ruin.  But  as  the  co- 
existence of  a  divine  nature  with  human  nature  in 
the  case  of  Adam  had  served  no  purj^ose,  unless 
it  were  as  an  advertisement  of  God's  idea  of  what 
man  should  be,  the  withdrawal  of  this  divine  na- 
ture was  like  taking  away  its  ideal  from  humanity. 
Edwards  argues  that  it  was  just  and  proper  in  God 
to  sever  the  divine  image  from  man  in  his  fallen 
estate,  and  to  remove  the  possibility  of  the  divine 
communion.  But  one  does  not  see  why  it  was  not 
quite  as  fitting  that  this  divine  ideal  should  still  be 
allowed  to  remain,  even  though  it  should  serve  no 
other  purpose  than  as  a  divine  protest  against  the 
predominance  of  the  animal  nature. 

Edwards'  argument  for  original  sin  is,  to  a  great 
extent,  a  familiar  one,  and  needs  no  rehearsing. 
His  book  was  intended  partly  as  a  reply  to  a  work 
very  popular  in  the  last  century,  by  Dr.  John  Tay- 
lor, which  proposed  to  subject  this  time-honored 
doctrine  to  a  ""'free  and  candid  examination."  Ed- 
wards regarded  Taylor  as  a  specious  writer,  and 
seems  to  have  found  satisfaction  in  tearing  his 
"  candid  examination "  to  shreds.  Both  were 
agreed  in  admitting  the  prevalence  and  heinous- 
ness  of  sin.  But  Dr.  Taylor  doubted  its  universal- 
ity as  including  infants  from  the  hour  of  their 


REALISM  AND   NOMINALISM.  307 

birth  ;  he  refused  to  admit  that  the  general  diffu- 
sion of  sin  was  owing  to  the  corruption  of  human 
nature,  nor  did  he  think  it  explained  anything  to 
refer  the  origin  of  evil  to  Adam.  It  was  enough 
to  suppose  the  force  of  evil  example,  the  weakness 
of  our  nature,  together  with  the  freedom  of  the 
will,  in  explanation  of  the  sin  which  originated 
with  every  man.  Edwards'  reply  consists  in  un- 
rolling upon  a  larger  canvas  the  picture  of  human- 
ity under  the  universal  predominance  of  sin,  draw- 
ing liis  materials  from  experience  and  observation, 
the  history  of  the  race,  the  teaching  of  Scripture. 
He  urges  the  inference  that  human  nature  must 
have  been  corrupted  at  its  original  source  as  the 
only  adequate  explanation.  But  how  coidd  human 
nature  as  a  whole  have  become  inwardly  depraved 
unless  through  the  sin  of  its  progenitor  who  car- 
ried humanity  in  himself,  and  in  whom,  as  at  its 
primal  fount,  the  springs  of  life  had  been  contam- 
inated? Until  this  point  had  been  established, 
Edwards'  argument  halted  and  fell  short  of  its 
aim.  But  in  seeking  to  establish  this  point,  he 
was  confronted  by  the  moral  sentiment  and  reason 
of  the  age.  Was  it  just  that  all  men  should  be 
adjudged  guilty  of  Adam's  sin,  and  doomed  to  suf- 
fer its  endless  consequences  ?  In  the  earlier  ages 
of  the  church,  when  what  is  called  realism  was  the 
prevailing  philosophical  bias,  it  had  been  easy  to 
defend  such  a  doctrine  on  the  ground  that  all  men 
had  sinned  in  Adam.  But  the  spirit  of  nominalism, 
prevailing  widely  in  the  eighteenth  century,  made 


308  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

such  a  statement  seem  as  contrary  to  the  reason  as 
it  was  repulsive  to  the  moral  sense.  Nor  was  the 
statement  more  acceptable  in  its  modified  form,  — 
that  God  had  decreed  a  certain  relationship  Avith 
Adam,  in  consequence  of  which  his  sin  was  im- 
puted to  his  descendants,  even  though  it  were  not 
their  own.  Such  opinions  were  indignantly  chal- 
lenged as  irrational  or  immoral.  Every  man  stood 
by  himself  before  God,  responsible  only  for  his 
own  guilt,  and  not  punishable  for  the  sin  of  another. 
Edwards  met  the  opponents  of  the  doctrine  with 
no  compromise  of  its  ancient  rigor.  Nor  was  he 
content  merely  with  an  appeal  to  Scripture.  But 
in  calling  reason  to  his  aid,  he  produced  an  argu- 
ment so  novel  and  extraordinary  in  the  history  of 
the  doctrine  that  it  seems  to  have  struck  his  read- 
ers, for  the  most  part,  dumb  with  astonishment. 
He  asserted  not  only  that  all  men  sinned  in  Adam, 
but  that  every  man  is  identical  with  Adam,  and  has 
therefore  actually  committed  Adam's  sin.  His 
argument  turned  on  the  metaphysical  question  of  * 
the  nature  of  identity.  The  mysterious  principle, 
by  which  a  man  remains  the  same  being  through 
the  mutations  of  experience,  he  declares  to  be  no 
other  than  "  the  sovereign  constitution  and  will  of 
God."  We  have  here  again  the  principle  of  Berke- 
ley carried  beyond  the  sphere  of  sense  percep- 
tions to  which  Berkeley  confined  it,  and  regarded 
as  controlling  the  whole  range  of  human  conscious- 
ness or  intellectual  activity.^     God  is  not  only  the 

^  There  is  a  passage  in  the  treatise  on  Original  Sin,  pt.  iv.,  ch. 


NATURE   OF  IDENTITY.  309 

universal  mind  which  constitutes  the  substance  of. 
the  external  world,  but  He  is  also  the  essence  which 
lies  behind  the  phenomena  of  consciousness  or  mind. 
There  is  no  essential  difference  between  the  process 
by  which  we  know  the  oak  to  be  identical  with  the 
acorn,  and  the  self-consciousness  by  which  a  man 
knows  himself  to  be  one  and  the  same  beinsf  from 
childhood  to  maturity.  The  hidden  reality  or  sub- 
stance in  both  cases  is  the  immediate  and  contin- 
uous action  of  the  stable  will  of  God.  Or,  to  fol- 
low Edwards'  reasoning :  "  There  would  be  no 
necessity  that  the  remembrance  of  what  is  past 
should  continue  to  exist  but  by  an  arbitrary  consti- 
tution of  the  Creator.  It  does  not  suffice  to  say," 
so  he  continues,  "  that  the  nature  of  the  soul  will 
account  for  the  existence  of  the  consciousness  of 
identity,  for  it  is  God  who  gives  the  soul  this  na- 
ture :  identity  of  consciousness  depends  on  a  law 
of  nature,  and  therefore  on  the  sovereign  will  and 
agency  of  God.  The  oneness  of  all  created  sub- 
stances is  a  dependent  identity.  It  is  God's  im- 
mediate power  which  upholds  every  created  sub- 
stance in  being.  Preservation  is  but  a  continuous 
creation.  Present  existence  is  no  result  of  past 
existence.  But  in  each  successive  moment  is  wit- 
nessed the  immediate  divine  agency.     All  depen- 

2,  p.  479,  which  contains  an  allusion,  probably,  to  the  Berkeleyan 
philosophy,  though  without  mentioning  it  by  name.  "  The  course 
of  nature  is  demonstrated,  by  late  improvements  in  philosophy, 
to  be  indeed  what  our  author  himself  says  it  is,  viz  ,  nothing  but 
the  established  order  of  the  agency  and  operation  of  the  author 
of  nature." 


310  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL    THEOLOGIAN. 

.  dent  existence  whatsoever  is  in  a  constant  flux,  ever 
passing  and  returning;  renewed  every  moment,  as 
the  colors  of  bodies  are  every  moment  renewed  by 
the  light  that  shines  upon  them.  And  all  is  con- 
stantly proceeding  from  God,  as  light  from  the 
sun."  ^  The  same  law,  then,  by  which  a  man 
knows  himself  as  one  and  the  same  being,  despite 
the  differences  of  time  and  appearance,  also  binds 
"every  nmn  to  Adam,  and  creates  a  common  con- 
sciousness of  identity  with  him  in  his  sin  and  fall. 
The  sin  of  Adam,  including  his  guilt,  is  therefore 
properly  imputed  to  every  man,  because  by  the  law 
of  identity  it  is  his  own. 

While  this  argument  from  the  nature  of  identity 
did  not  commend  itself  to  Edwards'  contemporaries 
or  followers,  his  free  handling  of  the  subject  long 
continued  to  be  imitated.  The  doctrine  of  original 
sin  became  the  battle-field  in  New  England  of  a 
great  controversy.  In  some  cases  the  doctrine  was 
greatly  modified,  in  others  almost  explained  away, 
while  there  were  those  who  rejected  it  altogether. 
Edwards,  of  course,  is  not  to  be  held  responsible 
for  every  deduction  from  his  premises.  But  the 
tendency  of  an  attitude  so  literal  and  extreme  was 
to  neutralize  the  earlier  meaning  of  the  doctrine, 
if  not  to  give  rise  to  a  new  and  diverse  interpreta- 
tion. It  required  but  a  step  from  the  principle 
that  each  individual  has  an  identity  of  conscious- 
ness with  Adam,  to  reach  the  conclusion  that  each 
individual  is  Adam  and  repeats  his  experience. 
1  Vol.  ii.  p.  490. 


DEFINITION  OF  SIN.  311 

Of  every  man  it  might  be  said,  that  like  Adam  he 
comes  into  the  world  attended  with  the  divine  na- 
ture, and  like  him  sins  and  falls.  In  this  sense  the 
sin  of  every  man  becomes  original  sin.  The  old 
feudal  conception  grows  weak  which  regarded  Adam 
as  having  a  proprietorship  in  the  race  of  his  descend- 
ants. Instead  of  being  the  head  of  humanity,  he 
becomes  rather  its  generic  type  on  that  side  of  its 
existence  which  is  of  the  earth  earthy. 

If  there  is  any  literary  interest  in  the  treatise  on 
Original  Sin,  it  lies  in  the  revelation  of  Edwards' 
character.  He  was  penetrated  with  the  mystic's 
conviction  of  some  far-reaching,  deep-seated  alien- 
ation which  separates  man  from  God.  Out  of  his 
ideal  of  the  divine  perfection  springs  his  conscious- 
ness of  sin.  But  his  conception  of  sin  is  after  all 
lacking  in  what  may  be  cailed  an  ethical  motive. 
He  defines  sin  as  a  negation,  —  the  absence  of  real- 
ity. But  in  this  negation  he  seems  to  include  the 
infinite  gidf  which  divides  the  creature  from  the 
Creator.  All  imperfection,  finiteness  as  contrasted 
w4th  the  infinite,  the  interest  in  earthly  things  or 
all  which  is  not  God,  —  these,  as  well  as  the  lack  of 
entire  disinterested  devotion,  or  the  darker  vices 
which  disfigure  human  life,  enter  into  Edwards' 
conception  of  sin.  Naturally,  therefore,  was  he 
indignant  at  what  seemed  the  shallow  theory  of 
Dr.  Taylor,  that  "  corruption  and  moral  evil  are 
not  universally  prevalent,  that  good  predominates, 
that  virtue  k  in  the  ascendant."  To  Edwards' 
mind,  humanity  in  itself  was  identified,  with  evil. 


312  THE  rniLOSOPHlCAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

He  treats  with  disdain  the  objection  wliich  may  be 
raised,  that  his  view  of  human  nature  is  derogatory 
to  its  sacredness  or  dignity.  He  does  not  conde- 
scend to  its  consideration.  To  another  question 
which  arises,  whether,  under  these  circumstances, 
the  propagation  of  the  race  be  not  a  sin,  he  replies 
that  such  is » the  will  of  God. 

Of  this  treatise  on  Original  Sin,  Mr.  Lecky  has 
remarked  that  it  is  "one  of  the  most  revolting 
books  that  have  ever  proceeded  from  the  pen  of 
man."  Where,  if  it  may  be  put  briefly,  lies  the 
fallacy  of  a  work  which  can  evoke  such  a  criticism  ? 
There  is  a  passage  in  the  opening  pages  in  which 
Edwards  states  the  method  he  proposes  to  follow : 
"That  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  true  tendency 
of  the  natural  or  innate  disposition  of  man's  heart 
which  appears  to  be  its  tendency  when  we  consider 
things  as  they  are  in  themselves  or  in  their  own 
nature,  without  the  interposition  of  divine  grace." 
But  had  he  any  right,  in  considering  things  as  they 
are,  to  leave  out  of  view  the  divine  action  within 
the  soul?  Is  not  God's  grace  as  real  as  human 
sinfulness,  —  the  divine  interposition  as  inevitable 
as  Adam's  fall?  To  separate  things  which  accom- 
pany each  other  is  not  to  see  things  as  they  are. 
It  is  to  commit  the  familiar  fallacy  of  supposing 
that  because  things  may  be  separated  in  abstract 
thought,  they  are  also  separated  as  a  matter  of  fact. 
The  grace  of  God  is  as  organic  in  its  relation  to 
man  as  is  the  evil  in  his  nature.  Grace  also  reigns 
wherever  justice  reigns.     To  draw  a  picture  of  hu- 


RISE    OF  ETHICAL   SYSTEMS.  313 

manity  apart  from  God,  is  an  injustice  alike  to 
God  and  man.  Such  an  attempt  transgresses  the 
limits  of  a  lawful  rhetoric,  even  when  seeking  to 
impress  the  imagination  with  a  sense  of  the  evil  of 
sin. 


IV. 

TREATISE   ON   THE   NATURE   OF  TRUE   VIRTUE. 

The  Augustinian  or  Calvinistic  theology  was  not 
a  favorable  soil  for  the  growth  of  ethical  systems.  / 
The  study  of  ethics,  indeed,  had  been  made  almost 
impossible  by  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  from  the 
time  of  Augaistine  onwards.  It  was  not  till  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  the 
traditional  interpretation  of  this  ancient  dogma 
was  losing  its  hold  on  the  popular  mind,  that  at- 
tention began  to  be  given  to  ethical  theories.  The 
deistical  and  Arminian  writers,  more  particularly 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  who  were  seeking  to  vin- 
dicate for  character  and  conduct  a  higher  place  in 
religion,  as  if  it  were  the  most  essential  element, 
found  it  necessary  to  seek  for  some  principle  which 
shoidd  explain  and  justify  the  utterances  of  the 
moral  nature,  and  bind  them  together  in  the  unity 
of  a  system.  Edwards  was  watching  them  in  this 
constructive  process,  so  far  as  it  came  under  his 
vision,  eager  to  detect  from  his  own  point  of  view 
the  deficiency  of  the  result.  No  subject  could 
have  been  more  congenial  to  the  natural  bent  of 


314  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

his  mind.  It  had  interested  him,  as  we  have  seen, 
from  the  moment  when  he  became  conscious  of  his 
intellectual  power,  occupying  the  foremost  place  in 
his  early  Notes  on  the  Mind.  Had  he  been  free 
from  the  trammels  of  controversy,  or  the  seK-im- 
posed  necessity  of  making  his  conclusions  square 
with  the  narrow  principles  of  his  theology ;  could 
he  have  trusted  humanity  as  redeemed  in  Christ, 
it  would  seem  as  if  he  must  have  won  his  chief 
distinction  in  the  field  of  ethical  inquiry.  But 
while  his  treatise  on  Virtue  has  never  held  the 
place  of  honor  among  his  wi^tings,  it  is  worthy  of 
careful  study.  His  conception  of  virtue,  viewed 
apart  from  the  negations  which  accompany  it,  has 
much  that  is  suMime  and  inspiring.  In  making 
the  motive  of  true  virtue  consist  in  devotion  to  an 
Infinite  Being,  he  marks  the  first  beginnings  of  a 
transition  in  the  Calvinistic  churches  to  a  theology 
in  which  love  is  the  central  principle  of  the  crea- 
tion, and  the  law  of  all  created  existence. 

A  peculiar  interest  attaches  to  the  treatise  on 
Virtue,  as  being  the  reproduction  of  Edwards' 
earliest  thought  with  no  essential  modification. 
Virtue  is  again  identified  with  the  beaijj^ful.  It 
has  its  primary  root  in  love  to  God  for  Himself 
alone.  All  true  excellence  or  beauty,  all  propor- 
tion and  harmony,  is  traced  back  to  an  ultimate 
foundation  in  the  necessities  of  pure  existence  or 
being.  There  can  be  no  virtue  where  the  gradation 
is  not  preserved  between  the  existence  which  is  in- 
finite, and  that  which  is  created  and  finite.     It  is 


REVERENCE  FOR  BEING^  315 

not  the  moral  character  of  God  that  first  awakens 
a  moral  response  in  the  creation.     It  is  rather  the 
infinite  preponderance   of    existence  which  Deity 
possesses,   compared  with   which   the    amount  of 
created  existence  is  as  nothing,  that  awakens  the 
feeling  of  reverential  awe  which  is  the  beginning 
of  true  virtue.     For  being  as  he  calls  it,  or  sub- 
stance as  it  might  be  called,  Edwards  like  Spinoza 
felt  a  profound  and  awful  reverence.     That  which 
is  called  great,  even  in  the  moral  universe,  is  great 
because  it  has  more  of  existence  than  that  which 
is  small.     The  comparison  is  that  of  a  large  piece 
of  gold  to  a  tiny  fragment   of  the   same  material. 
The   value   depends   upon   the  quantity.     In  the 
relative   amount  of  being  possessed  by  the  arch- 
angel and  the  worm  lies  the  difference  which  dis- 
tinguishes and  separates  them.     In  the  last  resort, 
it  is  being  which  is  the  most  sacred  and  awful  of 
realities.     And  being  possesses  sanctity  and  value 
because  it  is  the  furthest  remove  from  nonentity, 
which  is  the  greatest  evil.^ 

This  doctrine  of  Edwards  seems  to  imply  a  phys- 
ical or  at  least  an  unetliical  basis  as  the  ground 
of  the  moral  or  spiritual.     It  is  not  difficult  to  see 

1  "  Being,  in  what  we  should  call  an  awful  nakedness,  not 
unconnected  surely  (how  can  it  be  ?  )  with  life  and  action  ;  not 
separated,  as  it  is  in  Spinoza,  from  a  personal  will,  but  almost  as 
separate  from  all  relations,  almost  as  far  removed  from  humanity 
as  it  is  in  his  metaphysics,  —  is  the  ground  of  the  divinity  of  Ed- 
wards, is  the  ground  also  (subject  to  the  exception  we  have  just 
mentioned)  of  his  ethics."— Maurice,  Hist.  Modern  Phil,  p.  473. 
Cf .,  also,  Chapter  I.,  First  Period,  pp.  6-10,  ante. 


316  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  THEOLOGIAN. 

how  he  came  to  identify  the  two.  The  physical 
or  the  material  did  not  in  his  view  possess  any 
real  existence  except  in  the  will  of  God.  In 
God's  will  lies  the  only  substance.  A  monism 
more  absolute  it  is  impossible  to  conceive.  As 
bodies  have  no  real  existence,  and  spirits  are  but 
the  communication  of  the  Infinite  Spirit,  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  insist  upon  the  infinite  quan- 
tity of  the  Divine  existence,  as  contrasted  with  the 
human,  if  he  would  escape  the  consequence  of  his 
theory  which  tended  to  identify  all  existence  with 
God.  So  deeply  is  he  impressed  with  this  necessity 
of  his  thought,  that  he  reads  it  into  the  minds  of 
others  even  when  it  would  be  disowned.  He  ap- 
plied it  to  the  doctrine  advocated  by  Hutchinson 
and  the  Arminian  school,  that  virtue  consisted  in 
love  or  benevolence  to  all  men,  or  in  regarding  the 
good  of  all,  or  of  the  greatest  number,  in  prefer- 
ence to  the  interest  of  self.  He  assumes  that  the 
reason  why  these  writers  give  the  preference  to  the 
greatest  number  must  be  on  account  of  the  larger 
quantity  of  being  which  all  men,  taken  together, 
possess  when  compared  with  the  amount  of  being 
in  the  individual.  On  this  ground  he  calls  upon 
them  to  carry  out  the  principle  in  its  application 
to  God.  They  seem  to  him  inconsistent  when  they 
make  morality  consist  in  love  to  men,  and  do  not 
rather  make  it  consist  primarily  and  even  exclu- 
sively in  the  love  toward  God.  That  Edwards 
had  struck  a  note  of  profound  significance  must 
be  confessed.     But  it  can  hardly  be  called  an  eth- 


EXISTENCE    THE    ULTIMATE   REALITY.        317 

ical  principle.  It  is  a  principle  which  underlies 
religion,  if  religion  be  defined  as,  in  its  origin,  the 
sense  of  awe  in  the  presence  of  the  mystery  of 
the  universe.  But  how  unethical  it  is  may  be 
illustrated  by  a  passage  which  Edwards  was  fond  of 
quoting,  —  ''  The  devils  also  believe  and  tremble." 
But  he  seems  to  have  clung  to  his  position  the 
more  strenuously  for  this  reason,  —  that  it  enabled 
a  totally  depi'aved  humanity  to  discern  clearly  the 
ground  of  its  condemnation.  Even  if  the  wicked 
could  not  appreciate  God's  moral  excellence  or 
rejoice  in  His  beauty,  yet  they  could  recognize  His 
infinite  greatness,  resistance  to  the  attraction  of 
which  constitutes  evil.  In  the  consummation  of 
things  at  the  last  judgment,  the  verdict  against 
sinners  would  be  sufficiently  justified  by  this  prin- 
ciple alone. 

The  ethical  principle  of  Edwards  is  defective  in 
grounding  morality  in  the  immeasurable,  incom- 
prehensible essence  of  -God.  The  landmarks  dis- 
appear by  which  the  good  in  itseK  may  be  recog- 
nized. His  insistence  on  this  principle  reveals  at 
the  heart  of  his  theology  a  defect  which  he  had  not 
been  able  to  overcome.  Infinite  power  or  force,  a 
physical  attribute  of  Deity,  becomes  the  ultimate 
reality.  Had  he  carried  out  his  principle,  it  must 
have  made  impossible  the  Incarnation.  For  Christ 
is  the  revelation  of  God  as  a  spiritual  or  moral 
being.  The  goodness  of  God  can  be  revealed  in 
humanity  when  God  in  the  depth  and  mystery  of 
His  infinite  existence  is  unknown.     Though  Christ 


818  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL    THEOLOGIAN. 

emptied  Himself  of  the  infinite  glory  and  majesty 
of  tlie  divine  existence,  yet,  in  making  Himself  of 
no  reputation,  he  still  revealed  in  the  flesh  the  es- 
sential image  or  quality  of  God.  What  else  was 
the  significance  of  the  Incarnation  but  the  en- 
trance of  God  into  humanity,  the  confinement  of 
Deity  as  it  were  within  human  limits,  in  order 
that  He  might  be  measured  by  human  capacity, 
and  known  and  loved  as  the  divine  ?  The  mysti- 
cism of  Edwards  here  appears  as  overreaching  it- 
self, till  the  soul  is  in  danger  of  being  lost  in  the 
abyss  of  the  incommensurable. 

But  this  is  not  all  of  Edwards'  doctrine  concern- 
ing virtue.  The  truly  virtuous  soul,  who  begins 
with  loving  God  for  His  infinite  existence,  ad- 
vances to  the  love  of  God  for  His  moral  excellence. 
To  such  a  soul  God  appears  as  preeminently  lov- 
able, because  of  the  infinite  love  wherewith  He 
loves  Himself  supremely.  To  be  in  unison  with 
this  love  is  to  rest  in  the  ultimate  harmony  of 
things.  It  is  to  be  one  with  God,  for  it  is  to  be 
governed  by  the  same  principle,  rejoicing  in  God 
as  God  rejoices  in  Himself.  The  love  for  indi- 
vidual or  particular  beings,  in  order  to  be  genuine, 
must  spring  out  of  the  love  toward  God  as  its  mo- 
tive and  sanction.  But  a  difficulty  arises  here  in 
the  interpretation  of  Edwards'  meaning.  It  was 
thought  by  the  distinguished  Robert  Hall  that  his 
teaching  must  result  in  making  individual  affec- 
tions useless,  or  even  pernicious,  supposing  that 
they  were  any  longer  possible ;  for,  in  order  to  ob- 


THE  INDIVIDUAL   AFFECTIONS.  319 

serve  the  right  proportion  between  the  love  of  God 
and  that  of  the  individual,  the  latter  love  must  be 
infinitely  less  than  the  former,  —  a  distinction  of 
which  the  human  mind  was  incapable.^  Mr.  Hall, 
also  believed  that  Godwin,  the  poet  Shelley's 
father-in-law,  was  indebted  to  Edwards  for  his 
leading  arguments  against  the  private  affections.^ 
Edwards'  silence  on  this  point  is  a  reason  for 
doubting  if  he  would  have  sanctioned  such  an  in- 
ference from  his  position.  There  is  but  one  pas- 
sage in  the  treatise  on  Virtue  in  which  he  appears 
to  hold  that  love  or  benevolence  'must  be  propor- 
tioned to  the  degree  of  existence.  What  he  does 
urge  is  the  tendency  of  love  toward  God  to  pro- 
duce exercises  of  love  toward  particular  beings  as 
occasion  may  arise,  —  that  he  who  has  true  love  to- 
wards God  will  be  more  disposed  than  others  to  be 
moved  with  benevolence  towards  individuals.  But 
the  ordinary  mind  draws  its  own  inferences.  One 
can  hardly  read  this  treatise  without  feeling  that 
he  is  putting  God  in  contrast  with  man,  as  if  to 
weigh  them  in  the  scales  of  thought.  And  the  re- 
sult is,  that  either  the  individual  affections  become 
impossible,  or  God  is  robbed  of  his  infinitude.^ 

1  Hall,  Works,  p.  284,  Bohn  ed. 

^  Godwin,  Political  Justice,  vol.  i.  p.  301,  Amer.  ed. 

^  There  is  a  contradiction  in  this  treatise  on  Virtue,  of  which 
Edwards  may  not  have  been  aware.  If  he  had  said  plainly,  what 
his  thought  implies,  that  the  creature  has  no  existence  outside  of 
God,  his  attitude  would  have  been  clear  and  consistent.  But  he 
seems  also  to  grant  an  infinitesimal  portion  of  an  independent  ex- 
istence to  humanity.  He  halts  between  these  two  opinions,  neither 
of  which  is  quite  acceptable  to  him. 


320  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

That  Edwards  had  not  made  his  meaning  clear, 
or  that  its  perversion  was  an  almost  necessary  con- 
sequence of  so  high  an  ideal,  was  shown  in  the 
next  generation,  when  his  disciple,  Dr.  Samuel 
Hopkins,  was  wrestling  with  the  difficulties  created 
by  the  treatise  on  Virtue.  Dr.  Hopkins  drew  the 
inference  that  to  love  God  for  Himself  alone  re- 
quired that  every  man  should  be  willing  to  be 
damned,  if  thereby  God's  happiness  and  glory 
could  be  promoted.  Dr.  Hoj^kins  was  also  puz- 
zled by  another  difficidty.  He  assumed  that  it 
was  fitting  for  man  to  love  only  those  who  were 
loved  by  God.  But  it  was  impossible  in  this  world 
to  know  with  certainty  who  were  God's  elect,  to 
whom  He  vouchsafed  His  love.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, if  one's  love  went  forth  to  his  fellows 
it  must  be  a  sort  of  hypothetical  or  tentative  affec- 
tion. The  incongruities,  the  absurdities  even,  to 
which  Edwards'  teaching  gave  rise,  were  not  alto- 
gether inherent  in  his  theory,  but  sprang  from  its 
association  with  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  of  election 
or  predestination.  If  this  doctrine  be  dismissed 
from  view,  his  conce23tion  of  virtue  bears  a  close 
resemblance  to  the  ethics  of  Spinoza.  One  might 
be  justified  in  thinking  that  Edwards  would  have 
approved  these  propositions  from  the  Etliica : 
"  God  loves  Himself  with  an  infinite  intellectual 
''love "  (v.  35)  ;  "  The  intellectual  love  of  the 
mind  towards  God  is  that  very  love  whereby  God 
loves  Himself  "  (v.  36)  ;  "  The  good  which  every 
man  who  follows  after  virtue  desires  for  himself 


SPINOZA  AND    GOETHE.  321 

lie  will  also  desire  for  other  men,  and  so  much  the 
more  in  proportion  as  he  has  a  greater  knowledge 
of  God  "  (iv.  37)  ;  "  He  who  loves  God  cannot 
endeavor  that  God  shoidd  love  him  in  return" 
(v.  19).  Transcendent  ethical  impidses  like  these 
were  struofoiino;  in  the  bosom  of  the  old  New  Eno-- 
land  Calvinism,  in  sharp  conflict  with  the  selfish- 
ness which  it  naturally  engendered.  We  may 
smile  at  the  ungainly  shape  which  the  principle  of 
disinterested  virtue  assmned  in  Hopkins'  theology. 
But  the  same  principle  assumes  a  fair,  attractive 
guise  in  its  large  and  human  presentation  by  the 
great  German  poet.  Goethe  writes,  after  reading 
Spinoza :  "A  large  and  free  view  of  the  sensible 
and  moral  world  seemed  to  open  itself  before  me. 
But  what  specially  chained  me  to  him  was  the 
boundless  disinterestedness  which  shone  forth  from 
every  proposition.  That  wondrous  word,  '  who 
rightly  loves  God  must  not  demand  that  God 
should  love  him  in  return,'  with  all  the  prem- 
ises on  which  it  rests,  and  all  the  conclusions  that 
flow  from  it,  entirely  filled  my  thought.^  To  be 
disinterested  in  all,  and  most  disinterested  in  love 
and  friendship,  was  my  highest  joy,  my  maxim, 
my  practice ;  and  so  that  later  petulant  saying  of 

1  "Mr.  Brainerd's  religion,"  says  Edwards,  "was  not  selfish 
and  mercenary  :  his  love  to  God  was  primarily  and  principally  for 
the  supreme  excellency  of  His  own  nature,  and  not  built  on  a 
preconceived  notion  that  God  loved  him,  had  received  him  into 
favor,  and  had  done  great  things  for  him,  or  promised  great 
things  to  him  :  so  his  joy  was  joy  in  God,  and  not  in  himself." 
—  Reflections  on  the  Memoirs  of  Mr.  Brainerd,  vol.  i.  p.  659. 


322  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

mine,  '  If  I  love  thee,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  '  was 
spoken  from  my  very  heart."  ^ 

The  resemblance  is  close  between  Edwards  and 
Spinoza ;  but  so  also  is  the  divergence  great.  One 
of  Spinoza's  propositions  reads,  "  No  one  can  hate 
God  "  (v.  17).  It  was  Goethe's  method  in  per- 
suasive speech  always  to  address  men  as  if  they 
were  already  what  it  was  desirable  they  should  be- 
come. Spinoza  had  also  written :  "  He  who  clearly 
and  distinctly  understands  himself  and  his  emo- 
tions loves  God,  and  so  much  the  more  in  pro- 
portion as  he  more  understands  himseK  and  his 
emotions  "  (v.  15).  And  again :  ''  The  more  we 
understand  particular  things,  the  more  do  we  un- 
derstand God  "  (v.  24).  If  the  tendency  of  Spi- 
noza's ethics  was  toward  moral  laxity,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  obliterating  the  distinction  between 
God  and  man,  Edwards  stood  at  the  other  extreme, 
and  made  virtue  so  difficult  as  to  be  almost  impos- 
sible. The  greater  part  of  the  treatise  on  Virtue 
is  devoted  to  the  negative  effort  of  showing  that 
there  is  no  virtue  in  acts  which  are  prompted  by 
self-love,  or  the  action  of  the  natural  conscience. 
The  principle  is  affirmed  and  reiterated  that  "what- 
ever benevolence  or  generosity  toward  mankind,  or 
other  virtues  or  moral  qualifications  which  go  by 
that  name,  any  are .  possessed  of,  that  are  not  at- 
tended with  a  love  of  God  which  is  altogether 
above  them  and  to  which  they  are  subordinate  and 
on  which  they  are  dependent,  there  is  nothing  of  the 

^  Hedge,  Ways  of  the  Spirit,  p.  265. 


THE   CONSCIOUS  LOVE  OF  GOD.  323 

nature  of  true  virtue  or  religion  in  them."  The 
private  affections,  unless  they  spring  from  the  con- 
scious love  of  God,  have  no  moral  value.  There  are 
instincts  in  humanity  which  in  some  respects  resem- 
ble virtue,  but  they  are  only  instincts,  springing 
only  from  self-love.  Such  is  the  love  of  parents 
for  their  children,  or  the  pity  which  is  natural  to 
mankind  when  they  see  others  in  distress.  Even 
if  the  soul  of  a  man  should  go  forth  in  love  and 
devotion  toward  the  whole  race,  without  regard  to 
God's  existence,  such  love  or  benevolence  would 
not  be  of  the  nature  of  true  virtue.  It  is  as  if 
Edwards  stood  in  an  attitude  of  defiance  toward 
the  process  of  the  divine  revelation  as  given  in 
human  history  or  experience.  His  principle  seems 
a  grand  and  inspiring  one,  that  true  virtue  must 
begin  and  end  with  loving  God  supremely.  But 
is  not  tliis  rather  the  ultimatum,  the  final  goal  to 
which  virtue  tends,  rather  than  its  incipient  mo- 
tive ?  The  divine  training  of  humanity  begins  with 
and  leads  tln-ough  the  human  in  order  to  end  in 
the  divine.  Out  of  the  love  of  children  for  parents, 
the  divinest  of  all  analogies,  there  arises  the  love 
toward  God.  ''He  that  loveth  not  his  brother 
whom  he  hath  seen,  how  shall  he  love  God  whom 
he  hath  not  seen  ?  " 

The  moralists  of  the  last  century  spoke  of  a 
moral  sense  endowed  with  a  direct  insight  into  the 
nature  of  virtue,  —  of  a  natural  conscience  capable 
of  approving  right  and  condemning  e^dl.  Edwards 
refused  to  admit  that  the  action  of  conscience  im- 


324  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

plied  any  virtuous  principle,  inasmuch  as  it  could 
not  rise  to  tlie  love  of  Being  in  general,  which  is 
God.  Even  though  the  conscience  approved  things 
that  are  excellent,  or  condemned  their  opposites, 
this  did  not  imply  any  spiritual  sense  or  virtuous 
taste.  The  natural  conscience,  when  well  informed, 
will  approve  of  true  virtue,  and  condemn  the  want 
of  it,  without  seeing  the  beauty  of  true  virtue. 
Edwards  was  impressed  with  the  fact  which  came 
under  his  vision,  that  there  prevailed  a  striking 
analogy  between  the  benevolent  deeds  of  the  nat- 
ural man  which  have  no  true  virtue  in  them,  and 
the  deeds  of  the  virtuous  man  which  are  made 
valid  and  beautiful  by  consecration  to  the  divine 
love.  It  was  certainly  incumbent  on  him  to  inquire 
into  the  analogy  in  order  to  detect  its  full  signifi- 
cance. But  he  waives  the  question,  as  if  it  had  no 
special  bearing  on  his  theme.  Why  there  should 
be  such  an  analogy,  he  remarks,  it  is  not  needful 
to  inquire.  It  is  sufficient  to  observe  that  God  is 
pleased  to  maintain  such  an  analogy  in  all  His 
works.  Wherever  we  look,  it  may  be  seen  that 
God  has  established  inferior  things  in  an  analogy 
to  superior  things.  Brutes  are,  in  many  instances, 
in  analogy  to  the  nature  of  mankind,  and  plants 
to  animals.  The  external  world  is  in  analogy  in 
numberless  instances  to  things  in  the  spiritual 
world.  And  so  also  it  is  with  natural  men,  or  the 
great  majority  of  human  kind,  in  their  conduct 
and  character,  when  compared  with  the  few  who 
are  truly  virtuous.     All  that  can  be  said  is,  that 


UNCONSCIOUS   GROWTH.  325 

God  has  been  pleased  to  make  this  kind  of  consent 
and  agreement  as  a  beautiful  and  grateful  vision 
to  all  intelligent  beings,  —  an  image,  as  it  were,  of 
the  true  spiritual,  original  beauty  which  is  in  God. 
While  the  action  of  the  natural  conscience  does 
not  rise  into  the  sphere  of  virtue,  it  still  serves  a 
usefid  purpose  in  the  divine  economy.  Gratitude, 
sympathy,  pity,  charity,  the  spirit  of  public  benev- 
olence, the  love  of  country,  the  domestic  affections, 
or  conjugal  or  filial  love,  —  these  do  not  have  in 
them  the  nature  of  true  virtue,  and  yet  they  are  nec- 
essary to  the  order  and  happiness  of  social  institu- 
tions. These  qualities  have  in  them  also  a  certain 
negative  goodness,  implying  in  greater  or  less  de- 
gree the  absence  of  moral  evil.  For  these  reasons 
many  mistake  them  for  truly  virtuous  actions. 
But  upon  this  point  Edwards  is  uncompromising 
in  the  rigidity  of  his  attitude.  There  is  no  virtue 
in  them  unless  they  are  subordinated  to  the  con- 
scious love  of  Being  in  general,  which  is  God. 

It  is  difficidt  to  treat  Edwards'  teaching  on  this 
subject  with  that  impartial  justice  which  it  de- 
mands. One  is  in  danger  of  spurning  what  is  true 
and  sublime  in  his  thought,  because  of  its  close 
conjunction  with  what  oui'  moral  nature  condemns 
as  false.  A  reaction  has  long  been  in  process 
against  his  ruling  conviction,  which  has  not  yet 
reached  its  limit.  So  far  has  the  modern  mind 
gone  in  the  opposite  direction,  that  to  some  the 
idea  of  God  seems  like  a  waste  of  energy  in  the 
presence  of  appeals  to  the   moral   nature.      The 


326  THE  PUILOSOPniCAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

pliilosopliy  of  tlie  miconscious,  if  we  may  so  call  it, 
underlies  to  a  great  extent  oiir  modern  theology 
and  ethical  systems.  Upon  it  rests  the  larger  hojie 
for  the  myiiads  who  have  come  and  gone,  doing 
their  work  apart  from  any  conscious  service  of 
God.  As  if  by  tacit  assent,  the  intellect  or  the 
conscious  will  is  subordinated  to  the  instincts.  To 
live  by  the  emotions,  to  grow  by  unconscious  effort, 
has  become  the  modern  ideal.  In  all  this  there 
may  be  a  justifiable  protest  against  the  narrowness 
of  the  conclusion  that  God  is  not  where  He  is  not 
consciously  known  or  served.  There  are  words  of 
Christ  Himself,  spoken  to  those  who  have  served 
Him  in  unconsciousness,  as  when  He  was  in  hunger 
or  in  thirst,  in  sickness  or  nakedness,  or  in  prison, 
which  seem  to  justify  what  Edwards  labored  to 
disprove.  "  Forasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one 
of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it 
unto  me."  There  is  truth  in  Edwards'  position  if 
conscious  knowledge  be  the  goal  toward  which  we 
are  moving,  which  even  here  we  struggle  to  attain. 
His  error  lay  in  cherishing  true  virtue  as  the  pre- 
cious pearl,  to  the  neglect  of  that  other  illustration 
to  which  Christ  compares  the  life  of  God  in  the 
soul,  —  the  leaven  slowly  penetrating  but  destined 
to  revolutionize  the  world.  He  neglected  the  small 
beginnings,  the  tedious  process,  in  order  to  fasten 
his  gaze  upon  the  remote  result  when  the  course 
of  aaes  should  have  done  its  work.  He  looked  to 
the  distant  end  when  the  kingdom  should  be  de- 
livered up  to  the  Father,  and  God  should  be  all  in 


MYSTERY   OF  THE  CREATION.  327 

all.  So  absorbed  was  he  in  tbe  prospect  that  he 
counted  humanity  as  nothing,  so  far  as  it  still  ex- 
isted unconscious  of  its  destiny,  or  as  an  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  beatific  vision. 


V. 

god's  last  end  in  the  creation. 

One  more  treatise  remains  to  be  considered,  and 
Edwards'  long  controversy  with  the  Arminians  is 
over.  The  title  which  he  gave  to  liis  work.  The 
Last  End  of  God  in  the  Creation,  is  an  interesting 
one.  It  suggests  the  profound  and  fascinating 
speculations  of  Gnostic  theosopliies.  It  recalls  the 
mystic  thinkers  of  the  Middle  Ages,  an  Erigena 
or  an  Eckart ;  the  wonderful  poetry  or  the  vast 
reaches  of  thought  in  Schelling  and  the  Hegelian 
philosophy.  But  Edwards  comes  to  the  subject 
afresh,  as  if  it  had  never  been  broached  before. 
One  cannot  help  feeling  that  in  this  sphere  of  de- 
vout speculation  on  the  hidden  mystery  and  destiny 
of  the  creation,  he  might  have  been  the  peer  of  his 
predecessors  or  followers  had  he  only  been  free  to 
indulge  the  bent  of  his  poetic-creative  genius.  But 
while  Edwards  is  free,  so  far  as  the  presumptions 
of  traditional  theology  are  concerned,  yet  the  de- 
mands of  a  practical  theology  are  always  upper- 
most in  his  mind.  If  at  times  he  appears  to  forget 
himself  and  soars  in  philosophic  contemplation,  or 


328  TEE  PHILOSOPHICAL    THEOLOGIAN. 

seems  as  if  he  would  lose  himself  and  revel  in  the 
open  mystery  of  God,  he  soon  returns  to  his  direct 
purpose,  which  is  to  give  a  final  blow  to  the  re- 
motest cause  of  the  Arminian  heresy.  Until  he 
had  done  this,  his  work  was  not  complete. 

All  other  questions  had  been  leading  up  to  the 
determination  of  the  final  object  for  which  God 
made  the  world.  Back  to  this  issue  were  to  be 
traced  the  fundamental  differences  which  divided 
the  two  religious  schools.  But  in  one  respect  these 
schools  were  agreed,  dominated  as  they  were  by 
the  spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  regarding 
ha]3piness  as  the  end  of  existence.  Edwards  de- 
fines God  as  a  supremely  happy  Being,  in  the  most 
absolute  and  highest  sense  j)ossible,  so  that  God  is 
free  from  everything  that  is  contrary  to  happiness, 
—  so  that  in  strict  propriety  of  speech  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  pain,  or  grief,  or  trouble  in  Him.^ 
In  all  that  God  does,  He  has  reference  to  His  own 
happiness.  The  Arminians,  on  the  other  hand, 
made  the  happiness  of  the  creation  the  ultimate 
end  of  God,  representing  Him  even  as  if  indiffer- 
ent to  His  own  interests  or  dignity  in  order  to 
secure  the  happiness  of  the  creature.  This  ten- 
dency to  think  of  happiness  as  the  primary  issue 
lowers  the  tone  of  the  discussion.  Before  theology 
could  recover  from  the  degradation  into  which  it 
fell  in  the  last  century,  an  ethical  purpose  must  be 
conceived  as  having  supremest  sway  in  the  divine 
existence,  and  in  consequence  permeating  the  vini- 
verse  of  created  things. 

1  Cf.  Freedom  of  the  Will,  §  9,  eh.  4. 


J 


THE  DIVINE   FELICITY.  329 

Edwards  did  not  deny  that  God  had  some  refer- 
ence, in  the  final  end  of  the  creation,  to  the  happi- 
ness of  the  creature ;  but  it  must  be  an  indirect 
and  subordinate  end,  not  the  ultimate  or  crowning 
purpose.  It  is  one  part  of  his  aim  to  reconcile 
this  subordinate  reference  to  the  creature  with 
the  more  important  principle  that  God's  supreme 
end  in  all  things  is  HimseK  alone.  Of  this  Ed- 
wards was  convinced  above  all,  that  God  had  made 
the  world  for  His  own  glory.  This  had  been  the 
dearest  conviction  of  his  life  from  the  time  of  his 
youth  onward.  Only  let  God  be  supremely  happy, 
let  Him  be  lovely  in  all  His  glorious  beaut}%  and 
it  did  not  matter  so  much  about  the  world  of  cre- 
ated things.  But  it  was  also  part  of  Edwards'  be- 
lief that  God  gave  it  to  some  of  His  creatures  to 
share  ^vith  Him  in  His  felicity.  It  was  therefore 
necessary  to  show  that  God's  purpose  in  bestomng 
happiness  upon  these  could  be  reconciled  with  His 
supreme  devotion  to  Himself. 

Two  points  stand  out  with  great  clearness  in 
Edwards'  discussion  of  his  theme  ;  they  may  be 
taken  as  axioms  in  his  mind,  so  unhesitatingly  does 
he  assume  them.  The  first  is,  that  God  cannot 
love  anything  other  than  HimseK.  He  is  so  great, 
He  comprises  in  Himself  so  preponderating  an 
amount  of  being,  that  what  is  left  is  hardly  worth 
considering.  Or,  to  use  Edwards'  words,  the  whole 
system  of  created  beings,  if  put  in  comparison  with 
the  Creator,  "  would  be  found  as  the  light  dust  of 
the  balance  (which  is  taken  no  notice  of  by  him 


330  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

that  weighs),  and  as  less  than  nothing  and  vanity." 
And  in  the  second  place,  so  far  as  God  has  any 
wlove  for  the  creation,  it  is  because  He  Himself  is 
diffused  therein.  The  fulness  of  His  own  essence 
has  overflowed  into  an  outer  world,  and  that  which 
He  loves  in  created  beings  is  His  essence  imparted 
to  them.  In  seeking  the  creature,  God  does  not  go 
out  of  Himself,  but  rather  seeks  Himself.  If  God 
may  be  said  to  have  any  pleasure  in  the  happy 
state  of  the  creature,  it  is  because  and  in  so  far  as 
He  Himself  exists  by  emanation  in  the  creature. 
That  which  is  communicated  to  the  creature,  which 
makes  him  an  object  of  God's  complacency  or  love, 
is  something  divine,  something  of  God.  God  thus 
becomes  all  in  all  with  reference  to  the  felicity  of 
His  chosen  ones.  He  continues  to  pour  His  own 
divine  essence  into  them,  in  j^roportion  to  their 
capacity  to  receive  it,  until  in  the  final  consumma- 
tion they  shall  become,  as  it  were,  swallowed  up  in 
God.i 

Such  is  Edwards'  solution  of  the  question,  how 
God  can  love  Himself  supremely  and  exclusively 
and  yet  include  the  creature  in  His  love.  To  reach 
this  result  he  appears  as  denying  any  degree  of 
self-dependent  existence  to  the  creation.  He  has, 
indeed,  met  the  Arminian  position,  but  in  so  doing 
has  sacrificed  all  that  is  not  God.  Some  other 
inferences  are  also  apparent.  If  this  treatise  rep- 
resented his  final  judgment,  the  idea  of  creation 
hs  an  origination  de  nihilo,  the  received  doctrine 
1  Vol.  ii.  pp.  210,  211. 


GNOSTICISM  AND  N EO-PLATONISM.  331 

of  the- church,  could  hardly  find  a  legitimate  place 
in  his  system.     He  does  not  reject  it,  but  he  con- 
stantly substitutes  emanation  for  creation,  as  if  its  • 
fidl  equivalent.    Throughout  this  treatise  "  emana- 
tion "  is  the  word  about  which  the  thought  revolves. 
The  book  has  a  Gnostic  or  Neo-Platonic  atmos- 
phere.    The  old  phrases,  such  as  the  overflow  of 
the  divine  fulness,  diffusion  of  the  divine  essence, 
emanation  from  God  compared  mth  the  light  and 
heat  which  go  forth  from  the  sun,  —  these  consti- 
tute the  verbal  signs  of  Edwards'  thought.     It  is 
possible  that  he  might  have  avoided  them  had  he 
kno^vn  their  earlier  association.     But  they  repre- 
sent tridy  the  tendency  of  his  mind  ;  they  stand  for 
principles  which  had  been  lying  for  years  beneath 
his  practical  theology.     The  distinction  between 
an  elect  and   non  -  elect  humanity,  to  which  the 
Gnostics  also  gave  great  prominence,  forced  him 
into   a   similar    philosophical    exposition    of    the 
ground  on  which  the    distinction   rested.     There 
were  various  ways  in  which  the  Gnostics  repre- 
sented the  final  disposition  of  the  non-elect  portion 
of  the  race.     But  they  are  one  with  Edwards  in 
regarding  the   elect  as  containing  in  varpng  de- 
grees  an   infusion   of   the    divine    essence   which 
makes  their  salvation  possible. 

There  is  also  another  marked  resemblance  be- 
tween Edwards'  thought  and  the  Gnostic  theoso- 
phies.  He  is  not  only  asking  the  same  questions 
under  similar  circumstances  and  mth  substantial 
agreement  in  the  answer,  but  he  also  denies  that 


332  THE  PHILOSOPniCAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

the  divine  love  goes  forth  to  every  part  of  the  crea- 
tion. In  the  most  emphatic  manner  does  he  assert, 
and  reiterate  the  assertion,  that  the  creation  exists 
only  for  the  elect  portion  of  humanity.^  The  end 
of  the  lower  creation  is  man,  and  the  end  of  man- 
kind is  the  elect,  and  the  end  of  the  elect  is  God. 
But  he  would  not  willingly  reject  the  expression, 
however  he  may  empty  it  of  reality,  that  God  loves 
the  world.  The  expression  is  a  true  one,  but  only 
when  we  consider  the  creation  as  a  system  or  as  a 
whole.  If  we  cease  to  consider  the  interests  of  the 
individual  man,  evidence  can  be  found  for  the  di- 
vine benevolence  in  the  scheme  of  the  universe. 
Or,  to  quote  again  the  words  of  the  younger  Ed- 
wards, commenting  on  his  father's  achievement  in 
this  argument  as  another  victory  over  the  Armin- 
ians  :  "  The  declarative  glory  of  God  is  the  creation 
taken,  not  distributively,  but  collectively,  as  a  sys- 
tem raised  to  a  high  degree  of  happiness."  ^ 

As  to  the  question,  whether  the  creation  was  an 
eternal  necessity  in  the  nature  of  the  divine  Being, 
the  thought  of  EdAvards  vacillates.  He  argues 
that  it  is  fitting  and  desirable  that  the  divine  ac- 
tivity should  be  manifested,  and  that  without  a 
creation  the  divine  attributes  would  have  had  no 
exercise.  The  power  which  is  sufficient  for  such 
great  things,  unless  there  had  been  a  creation, 
must  have  been  dormant  and  useless.^  It  is  also  a 
good  thing  in  itself  that  God's  glory  should  be 

1  Cf.  End  in  Creation,  pp.  211,  224,  245. 

2  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  481.  3  ^„^  ^j-  Creation,  vol.  ii.  p.  204. 


ETERNAL   CREATION.  333 

known  and  rejoiced  in  by  a  glorious  society  of 
created  beings.  As  he  thinks  of  the  church  of 
the  redeemed,  he  is  ahnost  tempted  to  feel  as  if 
it  were  necessary  to  the  completion  of  the  di\dne 
happiness,  as  though  God  would  be  sometliing 
less  than  God  without  it.  The  creation  may  in 
some  sense  be  regarded  as  the  midtiplication  of 
the  divine  Being,  just  as  the  fulness  of  good 
tliat  is  in  the  fountain  increases  into  the  river, 
or  as  the  light  flows  forth  in  abundant  streams 
from  the  sun.  But  if  expressions  like  these  point 
toward  creation  as  a  necessity  in  God  which  would 
almost  justify  the  doctrine  of  an  eternal  creation, 
yet  there  are  other  passages  in  which  the  opposite 
is  plainly  asserted.  God's  happiness  and  glory 
before  the  creation  are  represented  as  capable  of 
receiving  no  addition,  as  if  He  knew  Himself  and 
rejoiced  in  Himself  without  the  exercise  of  His 
powers  in  a  continuous  creation.  One  would  have 
supposed  that  a  Deity  whose  powers,  as  Edwards 
asserts,  "  lay  dormant  and  useless  as  to  any  effect  " 
until  the  creation,  must  at  least  have  been  an  im- 
perfect Deity,  if  indeed  He  could  be  conceived  as 
having  existence  at  all.  But  in  this  treatise  on 
God's  Last  End  in  the  Creation,  no  effort  is  made 
to  overcome  the  contradiction.  The  deeper  ques- 
tions which  concern  the  nature  of  being,  or  of  per- 
sonality or  consciousness,  are  left  untouched.  But 
we  hasten  to  add  that  Edwards  confesses  himself 
not  entirely  satisfied  with  his  statements  and  con- 
clusions.   Such  an  admission  is  so  rare  in  his  writ- 


334  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

ings  that  it  arrests  attention  as  worthy  of  special 
remark.  More  than  once  he  alludes  to  the  diffi- 
culty of  the  subject,  the  mystery  which  enshrouds 
it,  the  inadequacy  of  language  to  express  such 
exalted  realities.  He  still  believes  in  endeavoring 
to  discover  what  the  voice  of  reason  teaches  upon 
these  things ;  but  revelation  is  the  surest  guide, 
and  to  what  Scripture  teaches  he  devotes  the  re- 
mainder of  the  treatise.  • 

As  we  follow  him  here,  it  is  apj)arent  that  he  is 
still  within  the  circle  of  his  own  reason  and  cannot 
go  beyond  it.  He  lays  down  the  principles  on 
which  he  proposes  to  interpret  Scrijiture,  but  these 
principles  he  has  first  derived  from  reason.  The 
result  is  that  Scripture  adds  nothing  to  the  argu- 
ment :  it  offers  only  a  large  and  varied  field  of 
illustration.  He  is  more  ^particularly  impressed 
with  the  familiar  phrase  so  common  in  the  Old 
Testament,  that  God's  providence  in  the  world  is 
manifested  for  His  name's  sake.  To  the  study  of 
this  phrase  —  the  name  of  God  as  the  end  of  the 
divine  activity  —  he  devotes  two  sections  of  his 
treatise.  But  he  does  not  get  beyond  the  theol- 
ogy of  the  Old  Testament  in  studying  the  mystery 
of  the  divine  name.  God's  name's  sake  is  simply 
His  own  sake,  and  His  name  is  identical  with  His 
glory.  There  is  a  moment,  however,  when  he  seems 
to  stand  on  the  eve  of  a  great  transition.  He  re- 
marks :  "  I  might  observe  that  the  phrase  the  glory 
of  God  is  sometimes  manifestly  used  to  signify  the 
second  person  in  the  Trinity.     But  it  is  not  neces- 


THE  ETERNAL   CHRIST.  335 

sary  at  this  time  to  consider  that  matter."  The 
point  whose  consideration  might  have  relieved  him 
from  his  perplexity  he  passes  over  as  irrelevant. 
He  passes  over  the  momentous  fact  that  while  it  is 
God's  name's  sake  in  the  Old  Testament,  it  is  the 
name  of  Christ  that  gives  significance  to  the  new 
dispensation.  It  is  strange  that  he  should  not 
have  recalled  in  this  connection  how  the  prayers 
of  the  Christian  church  in  every  age  had  been  of- 
fered in  the  name  of  Christ,  till  the  formula  had 
almost  come  to  be  regarded  as  an  essential  ending 
to  all  petitions.  So  prominent  has  been  the  name 
of  Christ  during  the  Christian  ages  that,  unless 
there  be  some  eternal  organic  unity  of  Christ  with 
God  which  rests  in  the  very  nature  of  the  divine 
Being,  it  would  seem  as  if  God  had  been  robbed 
of  His  glory  by  One  whose  special  mission  it  was 
to  proclaim  and  honor  Him,  whose  meat  and  drink 
it  was  to  do  the  ^vill  of  Him  that  sent  Him. 

In  passing  over  all  that  the  name  of  Christ  im- 
plies as  not  essential  to  his  argument,  Edwards 
rejected  the  aid  which  would  have  saved  him  from 
confusion  and  failure.  In  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  lay  the  resolution  of  the  problem  he  was 
considering.  If  the  doctrine  means  anything  at 
all,  it  must  mean  everything  when  discussing  the 
last  end  of  God  in  the  creation.  It  is  of  Christ 
that  St.  Paul  remarks  that/b/'  Him  are  all  things, 
as  well  as  hy  Him,  and  that  in  Him  all  things  con- 
sist. Because  Edwards  did  not  recognize  the  bear- 
ings of  this  doctrine,  he  is  driven  to  conceive  the 


336  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL    THEOLOGIAN. 

motive  of  God  in  tlie  end  of  things  as  a  selfish  one. 
In  this  treatise,  as  in  his  Nature  of  True  Virtue, 
the  apparent  effect  is  to  glorify  an  infinite  and 
celestial  selfishness.  It  is  true  that  God  seeks  His 
own  glory,  and  is  Himself  the  final  end  of  His  cre- 
ation. But  this  truth  must  in  some  way  be  coun- 
terbalanced by  the  equally  essential  truth  that  God 
also  exists  for  another,  and  in  existing  for  an- 
other, and  seeking  the  glory  of  another,  most  truly 
exists  for  self  and  realizes  His  own  peculiar  glory. 
It  has  been  admirably  remarked,  as  a  summary 
of  the  question  at  issue,  that  the  divine  nature 
demands,  in  the  eye  of  thought,  either  an  eternal 
Christ  or  an  eternal  creation.  Otherwise  the  idea 
of  God  becomes  impossible.  Edwards,  one  is 
forced  to  believe,  must  have  come  face  to  face  with 
the  dilemma ;  but  again  he  is  silent  where  speech 
was  demanded.  He  had  recoiled  from  deism,  as 
if  it  were  the  negation  of  God.  But,  if  we  take 
this  treatise  as  it  stands,  he  cannot  save  himself 
from  being  wrecked  on  the  opposite  shore,  —  some 
form  of  pantheism,  which,  while  seeming  to  honor 
the  divine  name,  does  so  in  appearance  only,  and 
equally  with  deism  endangers  the  divine  reality. 
He  may  have  struggled  to  escape,  though  he  makes 
no  sign,  as  he  approached  the  dangerous  pass,  the 
Scylla  and  Charybdis  of  all  human  speculation  on 
the  nature  of  God. 

The  speculative  treatises  at  which  we  have  been 
glancing  were  written  in  rapid  succession,  under 
the  heavy  pressure  of  the  cares  of  life  and  amid 


CONFESSION  OF  FAILURE.  337 

tlie  weakness  of  declining  strength.  Until  recent 
years  it  was  by  these  works  alone  that  Edwards 
was  known  as  a  philosophical  theologian.  In  the 
opinion  of  his  literary  executors,  as  they  may  be 
called,  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins  and  the  younger  Ed- 
wards, these  works  included  his  final  convictions. 
But  we  have  seen  that  in  this  treatise  on  the  Last 
End  of  God  in  the  Creation,  he  had  struck  some 
difficulty  which  he  makes  no  attempt  to  solve.  It 
is  pathetic  to  find  him  bemoaning  the  difficulty 
and  the  mystery  of  his  theme.  He  had  flung  liim- 
seK  into  the  infinite  abyss  confident  that  a  way 
through  the  pathless  void  led  up  to  God.  But  his 
later  unpublished  writings,  as  we  are  told,  abound 
in  confessions  of  a  sense  of  the  mystery  of  things. 
Had  his  thought,  so  far  as  he  had  completed  it, 
found  full  expression  in  these  four  treatises  we 
have  been  reviewing,  it  must  be  admitted  that  his 
work  as  a  speculative  thinker  had  ended  in  confu- 
sion, if  not  in  failure.  In  all  these  treatises  there 
is  seen  the  tendency  to  one  common  conclusion, 
—  that  nothing  exists  but  God :  His  existence,  be- 
ing infinite,  must  be  equivalent  to  universal  exist- 
ence. By  a  downward  movement  from  God,  hu- 
manity as  well  as  the  whole  reahn  of  nature  are 
swooped  up  by  the  sole  activity  of  the  one  universal 
will.  But  Edwards  had  not  attained  a  position  in 
which  he  could  rest,  securely  poised  amid  the  winds 
and  storms  that  agitate  the  atmosphere  of  hmnan 
thought.  He  had  come  to  the  final  question  which 
the  mind  can  ask  regarding  God  and  His  relation 
to  the  world,  and  was  not  satisfied  with  the  answer. 


338  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

As  disturbances  in  the  motion  of  the  spheres  are 
said  to  have  suggested  the  possibility  of  an  undis- 
covered planet,  and  even  led  to  the  calculation  of 
its  size  and  place,  so  the  perturbations  of  Edwards' 
thought  point  to  some  supreme  object  of  interest 
and  inquiry,  of  which  no  traces  are  to  be  found  in 
his  collected  works,  in  regard  to  which  his  literary 
executors  were  silent,  and  over  which  his  biogra- 
pher has  drawn  a  deeper  veil  of  obscurity  by  seem- 
ing to  give  a  complete  survey  of  his  career.  That 
subject  was  no  other  than  the  Christian  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity. 

VI. 

THE   DOCTRINE   OF  THE   TRINITY. 

For  a  long  time,  possibly  so  far  back  as  the  last 
century,  there  has  existed  a  suspicion,  under  whose 
various  forms  there  was  a  common  substance,  that 
in  i^dwards'  writings  there  existed  a  "  tentative  " 
element  which  did  not  express  his  final  conviction. 
No  student  of  Edwards'  collected  works  can  pro- 
ceed very  far  with  their  examination  without  feel- 
ing that  he  wrote,  at  times,  more  for  the  purpose 
of  relieving  his  own  mind  than  for  the  edification 
of  the  reader.  In  his  solitary  life,  excluded  from 
the  company  of  his  equals,  and  shut  out  from 
much  of  the  highest  literature,  he  became  accus- 
tomed, as  it  were,  to  thinking  aloud,  a  feature  of 
his  works  which  does  not  lend  to  their  elegance  of 


UNPUBLISHED  MANUSCRIPTS.  339 

form  or  to  ease  in  their  interpretation.  We  are 
also  told  that  he  was  always  writing,  thinking  with 
his  pen  in  his  hand,  stopping  by  the  wayside,  or 
rising  at  night  to  record  his  thoughts.  It  is  not 
therefore  surprising  to  learn  that,  voluminous  as 
are  his  collected  works,  he  should  also  have  left 
behind  him  a  vast  amount  of  manuscript  which, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  its  curators,  sur- 
passes in  extent  his  published  writings.  That 
these  manuscripts  should  contain,  as  is  asserted,  a 
"  thorouo-h  record  of  his  intellectual  life,"  it  is 
easy  to  believe,  as  also  that  there  are  among  them 
"papers  of  great  interest  and  value  that  have 
never  been  given  to  the  public."  ^ 

1  Rev.  Try  on  Edwards,  D.  D.,  Introduction  to  Charity  and  its 
Fruits.  Dr.  Edwards  further  remarks:  "These  manuscripts 
have  also  been  carefully  preserved  and  kept  together  ;  and  about 
three  years  since  (1848)  were  committed  to  the  editor  of  this 
work,  as  sole  permanent  trustee,  by  all  the  then  surviving  grand- 
children." A  writer  in  the  Independent  for  1853,  to  whom  had 
been  given  the  privilege  of  examining  the  manuscripts,  speaks  of 
finding  among  them  a  series  of  sermons  on  the  Beatitudes ;  a 
work  on  Revelation ;  a  Commentary  on  the  whole  Bible  (904 
pages),  and  a  Harmony  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  which 
was  incomplete.  The  outward  appearance  of  the  manuscripts 
illustrated  the  scarcity  of  paper  and  the  necessity  of  economizing 
it.  ' '  He  used  to  make  rough  blank-books  out  of  odds  and  ends, 
backs  of  letters,  scraps  of  notes  sent  in  from  the  congregation  ; 
and  there  is  one  long  parallelogTam  of  a  book  made  entirely  out 
of  strips  from  the  margin  of  the  old  London  Daily  Gazetteer  of 
1743.  There  is  another  most  curious  manuscript,  made  out  of 
circular  scraps  of  paper,  147  leaves,  being  in  the  shape  of  half 
moons,  intermingled  with  the  patterns  of  caps  and  such  other 
like  remnants  of  housewifery." — Cf.  Living  Age,  vol.  xxxvi. 
p.  181. 


840  THE   rniLOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

In  1854  tlie  Rev.  A.  B.  Grossart,  a  Scottish 
divine  and  the  accomplished  editor  of  various  pub- 
lications, crossed  the  Atlantic  for  the  purpose  of 
consulting  about  a  complete  and  worthy  edition  of 
Edwards'  works.  The  way  for  him  having  been 
prepared  by  correspondence,  immediate  access  was 
given  him  to  all  the  manuscripts  of  Edwards.  He 
found  the  labor  of  examining  them,  as  he  remarks, 
"  an  onerous  but  very  pleasant  one,"  and  was  re- 
warded by  the  discovery  of  "  papers  of  rare  bio- 
graphical interest  and  value."  The  treasure  of 
the  whole  proved  to  be  a  Treatise  on  Grace,  "  care- 
fully finished  and  prepared  for  the  press."  Mr. 
Grossart  was  allowed  to  take  out  of  the  country 
many  of  Edwards'  manuscripts,  including  some  of 
his  letters,  and  in  regard  to  these  he  remarks,  "  I 
possess  already  priceless  and  hitherto  unknown 
materials  for  a  worthy  biography."  From  these 
materials  in  his  possession  he  selected  enough  to 
form  a  volume  of  two  hundred  and  nine  large 
octavo  pages.  Although  he  did  not  deem  himself 
at  liberty  to  publish  anything,  there  seemed  "  no 
valid  objection  "  to  printing.  "  In  resj)onse  to 
many  frequent  and  urgent  requests,"  this  volume 
of  selections  was  printed  at  Edinburgh  for  private 
circulation,  and  the  edition  was  limited  to  three 
hundred  copies.^ 

^  Selections  from  the  Unpublished  Writings  of  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards, of  America.  Edited,  from  the  orig-inal  MSS.,  with  fac- 
similes and  an  Introduction,  by  the  Rev.  Alexander  B.  Grossart, 
Kinross.     Three  hundred  copies.     Printed  for  private  circulation, 


STATEMENT    OF  DR.  BUSHNELL.  341 

But  there  were  other  papers  also  of  rare  vahie, 
among  the  manuscripts  of  Edwards,  to  which  Mr. 
Grossart  makes  no  allusion.  It  was  in  the  year 
1851  that  the  late  Dr.  Bushnell  called  attention  to 
a  dissertation  on  the  Trinity  which  Edwards  was 
reported  to  have  written.  "  I  very  much  desired 
in  my  exposition  of  the  Trinity  to  present  some 
illustrations  from  a  manuscript  dissertation  of 
President  Edwards  on  that  subject.  Only  a  few 
months  ago  I  first  heard  of  the  existence  of  such 
a  manuscript.  It  was  described  to  me  as  an  '  a 
priori  argument  for  the  Trinity,  the  contents  of 
which  would  excite  a  good  deal  of  surprise '  if 
communicated  to  the  public.  The  privilege  of  ac- 
cess to  the  manuscripts  is  denied  to  me,  on  the 
ground,  as  I  understand,  of  the  nature  of  the  con- 
tents." ^  That  Dr.  Bushnell  must  have  had  au- 
thority for  his  statement  is  evident  on  the  face  of 
the  above  quotation.  In  an  article  on  Edwards, 
contributed  a  few  years  later  (about  1855)  to 
Herzog's  Keal-Encyclopadie,  by  the  late  Prof.  C. 

1865.  The  remarks  of  Mr.  Grossart  above  quoted  are  from  his 
introduction  to  this  volume.  In  addition  to  the  "Treatise  on 
Grace  "  (pp.  19-56),  this  volume  contains  "  Annotations  on  Pas- 
sages of  Holy  Scripture  from  President  Edwards'  Interleaved 
Bible"  (pp.  59-179);  "Directions  for  Judging  of  Persons' 
Experience"  (pp.  183-185);  and  "Sermons"  (pp.  189-209). 
Among  the  Sermons  is  the  full  outline  of  one  preached  to  the 
Indians  at  Stockb ridge  in  1753,  on  the  text,  "All  Scripture  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,"  etc.  A  copy  of  this  work  is  in 
the  library  of  Harvard  University.  There  are  said  to  be  but  two 
copies  in  the  country. 

1  Bushnell,  Christ  in  Theology^  p.  vi. 


342  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

E.  Stowe,  allusion  is  made  to  this  dissertation  on 
tlie  Trinity,  as  though  the  writer  had  himself  pe- 
rused it,  and  formed  his  own  judgment  of  its  char- 
acter. "  Among  the  manuscripts  of  Edwards,"  he 
remarks,  "  there  is  one  on  the  Trinity  which  is  pre- 
pared with  great  care,  and  is  marked  by  power  and 
boldness  and  great  independence  of  thought."  ^ 

The  call  of  Dr.  Bushnell  for  the  publication  of 
the  dissertation  on  the  Trinity  met  with  no  re- 
sponse. But  whether  it  was  owing  to  his  call  or 
to  other  causes,  a  fresh  interest  was  excited  in  Ed- 
wards' writings.  In  1852  Dr.  Tryon  Edwards 
edited  from  the  manuscripts  a  work  of  some  five 
hundred  pages  entitled  Charity  and   its    Fruits.^ 

^  "  Unter  seinen  handschriftlichen  Werken  ist  ein  sorgialtig 
ansgearbeitetes  iiber  die  Lehre  von  der  Trinitat,  das  mit  grosser 
Selbststaudigkeit  des  Denkens,  Kiilinlieit  und  Kraft  der  Gedan- 
keu  abgefasst  ist." — Herzog,  Beal  Encycloplidie,  art.  "Edwards." 

^  Charity  and  its  Fruits  ;  or  Christian  Love  as  manifested  in  the 
Heart  and  Life.  By  Jonathan  Edwards,  sometime  Pastor  of  the 
church  at  Northampton,  Mass.,  and  President  of  the  College  of 
New  Jersey.  Edited  from  the  original  manuscripts,  with  an  In- 
troduction, by  Tryon  Edwards.  New  York,  1852.  This  work 
consists  of  a  series  of  sermons  delivered  at  Northampton  in  1738, 
and  presents  Edwards  in  his  most  delightful  aspects  as  a  preacher. 
The  volume  possesses  historical  importance,  and  is  also  indirectly 
related  to  Edwards'  views  on  the  Trinity.  In  the  second  lecture 
is  contained  the  important  principle,  which  Edwards  afterwards 
incorporated  into  his  Distinguishing  Marks  of  a  Work  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  that  the  ordinary  operations  of  God's  Spirit  are 
higher  than  His  extraordinary  gifts,  such  as  inspiration  and  mira- 
cles. The  fifteenth  lecture  is  closely  related  to  the  Treatise  on 
Grace,  which  is  yet  to  be  noticed.  It  is  entitled  ' '  The  Holy 
Spirit  forever  to  be  communicated  to  the  saints  in  charity  or 
love." 


RUMORS   AND  SUSPICIONS.  343 

A  new  edition  of  Edwards'  works  was  also  pro- 
jected in  Scotland,  to  consist  of  about  fourteen 
volumes.  This  edition  was  expected  to  remedy 
the  fault  of  previous  editions  which  had  departed 
in  some  places  from  the  text,  and  to  contain  also 
the  more  important  treatises  existing  in  manu- 
script. It  was  with  reference  to  this  project, 
which  never  was  reaUzed,  that  Mr.  Grossart  had 
visited  this  country. 

In  1880  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  repeated 
the  caU  for  the  "  withheld"  or  "  suppressed"  dis- 
sertation on  the  Trinity.     The  suspicion  in  regard 
to  its  contents,  at  which  Dr.  BuslmeU  had  hmted, 
had  now  become  more  defmite.     "  The  writer  (Dr. 
Holmes)  is  informed  on  imquestionable  authority 
that  there  is  or  was  in  existence  a  manuscript  of 
Edwards,  in  which  his  views  appear  to  have  imder- 
gone  a  great  change  in  the  direction  of  Arianism 
or  Sabellianism."  1     The  editor  of   the  Hartford 
Courant  reiterated  the  call  for  publication,  describ- 
ing the  size  of  the  unpublished  manuscript,  repeat- 
ing the  rimior  that  it  contained  a  departure  from 
Edwards'  published  views  on  the  Trinity,  and  add- 
ing other  mmors  to  the  effect  that  it  contained  a 
modification  of  his  teaching  on  original  sin,  even 
approaching   so   far   as   Pelagianism.      This    last 
call   brought  forth  a  response  in  the  shape  of  a 
small  treatise  entitled  Observations  concerning  the 
Scripture  CEconomy  of  the  Trinity  and  Covenant 
1  International  Beview,  July,  1880. 


344  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

of  Redemption.^  The  liistoiy  of  tlie  manuscript 
is  given,  and  the  reasons  why  it  had  not  been  jjub- 
lished  before,  among  which  there  is  seen  no  ground 
for  serious  hesitation  on  account  of  its  alleged  de- 
fection from  orthodoxy.  The  work  shows  any- 
thing but  a  Sabellian  or  Arian  tendency:  it  is 
rather  Tritheistic,  with  its  formal  and  as  it  were 
algebraic  method  of  presenting  the  subject.  The 
disappointment  felt  on  its  appearance  must  have 
been  in  proportion  to  the  interest  which  its  an- 
nouncement had  created.  It  was  a  relief,  then,  to 
learn  that  this  was  not  the  dissertation  to  which 
Dr.  Bushnell  had  referred,  and  of  which  Professor 
Stowe  had  remarked  that  it  was  worked  out  with 
great  care,  and  was  marked  by  power  and  bold- 
ness and  great  independence  of  thought.  In  1881 
there  appeared  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra  two  re- 
markable articles  from  one  who  spoke  with  un- 
doubted authority.^  These  articles,  for  the  time 
being,  put  an  end  to  the  discussion.     From  them 

^  Observations  concerning  the  Scripture  (Economy  of  the  Trinity 
and  Covenant  of  Redemption.  By  Jonathan  Edwards.  With  an 
Introduction  and  Appendix  by  Egbert  C.  Smyth.  New  York  : 
Charles  Seribner's  Sons.  1880.  The  notes  which  Professor  Smyth 
has  added  have  great  value  in  elucidating  the  text,  as  well  as 
for  the  history  of  theology  in  New  England.  He  has  also  given 
additional  extracts,  hitherto  imknown,  from  Edwards'  MSS., 
one  of  them,  in  particular,  of  the  highest  importance.  Cf.  pp. 
92-97. 

2  Professor  Edwards  A.  Park,  D.  D.,  Bib.  Sac,  January  and 
April,  1881.  To  these  articles  I  am  greatly  indebted,  and  could 
not  have  written  this  chapter  without  them.  They  contain  a 
masterly  exposition  of  Edwards'  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 


THE   MISSING    MANUSCRIPT.  345 

it  may  be  inferred  that  Edwards  wrote  a  disserta- 
tion on  the  Trinity  which  justified  the  comments 
of  Professor  Stowe.  But  the  manuscript  has  since 
been  mislaid,  and  so  late  as  1881  had  not  been 
found.  It  had  been  read,  however,  several  years 
before  these  articles  appeared,  by  their  writer,  who 
had  also  taken  notes  of  some  parts  of  the  argu- 
ment. No  one  is  better  fitted  than  Professor 
Park  to  form  a  true  judgment  regarding  the  miss- 
ing manuscript,  or  to  report  correctly  as  to  its 
substantial  contents.  It  was  divided,  we  are  told, 
into  two  parts.  The  first  part  corresponded  in 
substance  with  the  Observations  concerning  the 
Scripture  CEconomy  of  the  Trinity,  published  in 
1880  ;  the  second  part  corresponded  in  substance 
with  the  third  section  of  the  Treatise  on  Grace, 
which  was  printed  in  Edinburgh,  in  1865.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  information,  fresh  material  from  Ed- 
wards' manuscripts  is  also  furnished  in  the  above- 
mentioned  articles  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  which 
possesses  the  highest  value,  throwing  a  light  upon 
the  workings  of  his  mind,  without  w^hich  it  w^oidd 
have  been  impossible  to  imderstand  or  to  do  jus- 
tice to  the  labors  of  his  later  years.  To  these  sug- 
gestive hints  from  his  manuscripts,  to  the  Obser- 
vations on  the  Trinity,  and  to  the  Treatise  on 
Grace,  we  now  turn  in  the  order  enumerated. 
The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  has  played  so  large  a 
part  in  the  history  of  religious  thought  in  New 
England,  that  Edw^ards'  contribution  to  the  sub- 
ject must  be  regarded   as   still   possessing   great 


346  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

significance,  even  tliougii  it  lias  been  unknown 
until  recent  years,  and  tlie  best  part  of  his  thought 
is  still  secluded  in  a  volume  printed  for  private 
circulation,  or  buried  in  the  missing  manuscript.^ 

Toward  the  close  of  his  life,  and  within  perhaps 
four  or  five  years  of  his  death,  Edwards  became  ac- 
quainted with  one  of  the  most  remarkable  theolog- 
ical works  of  the  last  century, — The  Philosoph- 
ical Principles  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion, 
unfolded  in  Geometrical  Order  by  the  Chevalier 
Ramsay,  author  of  the  Travels  of  Cyrus.  Glasgow, 
1747.'^      From  a  notice   which  Edwards    saw  of 

^  Were  it  not  for  Professor  Park's  conjecture  that  the  missing 
essay  was  written  somewhere  between  1752  and  1754,  it  might 
have  been  inferred  from  ' '  internal  evidence  ' '  that  it  was  written 
after  the  Nature  of  True  Virtue  and  The  Last  End  of  God  in  the 
Creation  ;  i.  e.  some  two  years  later  (1756).  The  suggestion  is 
here  hazarded  that,  because  these  two  dissertations  needed  to  be 
adjusted  to  the  thought  contained  in  the  missing  essay,  or  in  the 
Treatise  on  Grace,  Edwards  kept  them  back  from  the  press  and 
proceeded  with  his  work  on  Original  Sin,  which  was  going 
through  the  press  at  the  time  of  his  death.  No  date  is  assigned 
for  the  Observations  on  the  Trinity,  or  the  Treatise  on  Grace.  It 
may  be  assumed  that  they  were  written  after  1752.  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  Edwards  does  not  allude  to  any  of  these  treatises  above 
named,  in  his  letter  to  the  Trustees  of  Princeton  College,  in  which 
he  describes  the  books  he  is  then  projecting  (1757).  But  he 
makes  the  significant  remark,  ' '  I  have  also  many  other  things  in 
hand,  in  some  of  which  I  have  made  great  progress,  which  I  will 
not  trouble  you  with  an  accoimt  of.  Some  of  these  things,  if  di- 
vine providence  favor,  I  should  be  willing  to  attempt  a  publication 
of.''''  — Dwight,  hife  of  Edwards,  p.  570. 

^  Andrew  Michael  Ramsay,  commonly  called  the  Chevalier 
Ramsay,  was  born  in  Ayr,  Scotland,  1686.  After  studying  at  Edin- 
burgh and  St.  Andrews  he  went  abroad,  residing  mainly  in  France, 
where  he  died  1743.     Among  other  positions  which  he  held  was 


EA  MS  AY'S  ''PHILOSOPHICAL   PRINCIPLES:'      347 

the  work  in  the  Monthly  Review,  he  became  aware 
of  its  significance  and  was  desirous  to  purchase 
it.  The  book  may  have  been  in  his  possession  by 
1754.  Its  author  must  have  been  a  man  closely 
resembling  Edwards  in  the  type  of  his  mind,  —  a 
speculative  thinker  aiming  at  a  system  of  abso- 
lute Christian  thought.  But  if  the  Chevalier  Ram- 
say had  been  familiar  with  Edwards'  books  he 
could  not  have  more  directly  opposed  Edwards' 
methods  and  conclusions.  His  Philosophical  Prin- 
ciples combats  the  theories  of  Berkeley  and  Male- 
branche,  as  tending  directly  toward  Pantheism, 
which  he  regarded  as  an  immoral  fatalism  as  well 
as  a  practical  atheism.  Predestination,  also,  and 
the  denial  of  freedom  of  the  will,  he  condemned, 
tracing  them  to  the  principle  that  Deity  was  the 
sole  efficient  cause,  —  a  principle  which,  as  he 
sought  to  show,  led  back  ultimately  to  Spinoza's 
doctrine  of  the  one  substance,  with  its  two  attri- 
butes of  thouolit  and  extension. 

Edwards  does  not  seem  to  have  been  influenced 
at  all  by  these  denunciations  of  his  favorite  doc- 
trine. But  while  these  two  minds  were  at  the 
antipodes  of  speculation  on  these  profound  issues, 
they  had  also  much  in  common,  and  at  one  point 

that  of  tutor  to  the  children  of  the  Pretender,  called  James  III.  ; 
and  it  has  been  thought  that  the  doctorate  conferred  on  him  by 
Oxford  was  partly  owing  to  his  Jacobite  relations  His  Philo- 
sophical Principles  is  hardly  orthodox  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
stand-point,  as  it  urges  a  final  restoration  of  all  souls  to  God.  A 
copy  of  it  is  in  the  library  of  Harvard  College,  which  is  rich  in 
the  theological  literature  of  the  last  century. 


348  THE  PHILOSOPniCAL  THEOLOGIAN. 

tlieir  thought  tended  to  coalesce  in  a  common  con- 
viction. Both  had  been  going  through  a  similar 
theological  experience,  in  that  they  had  recoiled 
from  the  deism  of  the  eighteenth  century,  which 
relegated  God  to  some  remote  spot  outside  of  His 
creation.  The  Scotchman,  however,  had  first 
fallen  into  deism,  accepting  its  postulate  of  Deity 
as  singleness  of  essence,  and  reducing  religion  to 
a  reverence  for  and  the  practice  of  \4rtue.  All  re- 
ligions, as  he  then  thought,  contained  these  simple 
ideas,  but  were  also  full  of  false  theories  and  evil 
superstitions,  with  a  complicated  ritual  which  ob- 
scured the  essential  truth.  Ramsay  did  not  long 
remain  in  this  position.  Under  the  influence  of 
Poiret,  he  encountered  the  fascination  of  French 
mysticism,  which  led  him  in  1710  to  seek  an  inter- 
view with  Fenelon.  The  story  of  his  conversion 
to  Roman  Catholicism  is  told  in  his  Life  of  Fene- 
lon,^ by  whom  he  was  convinced  that  there  was  no 
middle  ground  between  deism  and  the  Catholic 
faith.  After  his  conversion,  as  he  pursued  his 
great  inquiry  regarding  the  nature  of  God,  he 
discerned  that  the  pantheism  in  which  thoughtful 
minds  were  taking  refuge  from  an  impossible 
deism  was  also  but  a  makeshift,  and  like  deism 
residted  in  a  loss  of  the  consciousness  of  the  living 
God.  It  was  at  this  point  that  he  met  Edwards, 
who  had  also  arrived  by  a  process  of  his  own  at 
conclusions  which  are  closely  related  to  Spinoza's 
doctrine  of  the  one  substance. 

^  Life  of  Francois  de  Salignac  de  la  Mothe  Fenelon,  London, 
1723,  pp.  189-247. 


DEISM  AND  PANTHEISM.  349 

The  issue  which  Ramsay  had  confronted,  and 
which  Edwards  must  also  have  seen,  even  if  at  a 
distance,  was  no  passing  mood  in  human  thought. 
It  involves  the  same  essential  condition  in  which 
the  early  fathers  of  the  Christian  church  had 
found  themselves  when  they  felt  the  necessity  of 
reconciling  the  truth  in  Stoic  pantheism  with  Jew- 
ish monotheism.  If  the  idea  of  God  as  infinite 
personality  was  lost  in  Stoicism,  which  conceived 
of  Deity  as  universally  diffused,  permeating  the 
universe  as  all-pervading  breath,  equally  difficult 
was  it  to  find  satisfaction  in  the  deistic  conception 
of  the  Jew.  A  Deity  idle  or  dormant,  silently  re- 
posing in  Himself  until  he  comes  forth  for  the 
creation,  must  be  a  being  without  relationships, 
and  therefore  without  consciousness.  It  was  here 
that  Platonism  came  to  the  rescue  of  embarrassed 
thinkers,  with  its  idea  of  a  Logos  which  bridged 
the  gulf  between  pantheism  and  deism.  Or,  as 
transmuted  by  Christian  thought,  the  true  Logos 
was  the  Christ,  the  Son  eternally  generated  from 
the  Father,  God's  second  self,  in  whom  He  saw 
HimseK  reflected,  between  whom  and  Himself 
there  existed  from  eternity  the  activity  of  divine 
communication  and  love.  The  doctrine  of  eternal 
distinctions  within  the  divine  essence  satisfied  the 
necessity  of  early  Christian  thought,  as  it  sought 
some  adequate  conception  of  God. 

The  following  sentence  from  Ramsay's  book  had 
first  arrested  the  attention  of  Edwards  :  —  "  The 
Infinite  Spirit,  by  a  necessary,  immanent,  eternal 


350  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  THEOLOGIAN. 

activity,  produces  in  HimseK  His  consubstantial 
image,  equal  to  Himself  in  all  His  perfections,  self- 
origination  only  excepted ;  and  from  botli  pro- 
ceed a  distinct,  self-conscious,  intelligent,  active 
principle  of  love,  coequal  to  tlie  Father  and  the 
Son,  called  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  is  the  true  defi- 
nition of  God  in  His  eternal  solitude,  or  accord- 
ing to  His  absolute  essence  distinct  from  created 
nature."  This  passage  Edwards  had  copied  from 
a  notice  in  the  Montlily  Review,  before  he  was  yet 
in  possession  of  Ramsay's  work.  When  he  had 
secured  the  book,  he  copied  out  other  passages 
which  bear  upon  this  leading  thought.  Among 
them  are  the  following  sentences :  — 

"  Such  inactive  powers  as  lie  dormant  during  a  whole 
eternity  in  God,  are  absolutely  incompatible  with  the 
perfection  of  the  divine  nature,  which  must  be  infinitely, 
eternally,  and  essentially  active.  .  .  .  Since  God  cannot 
be  eternally  active  from  without,  He  must  be  eternally 
active  from  within.  .  .  .  An  absolutely  infinite  mind 
supposes  an  absolutely  infinite  object  or  idea  known.  .  .  , 
Hence  this  generation  of  the  Logos  or  of  God's  consub- 
stantial idea  is  sufficient  to  complete  the  perfection  of 
the  divine  understanding.  .  .  .  Thus  it  is  certain  that, 
antecedent  to  all  communicative  goodness  to  anything 
external,  God  is  good  in  Himself.  .  .  .  He  does  not, 
therefore,  want  to  create  innumerable  myriads  of  finite 
objects  to  assert  His  essential  beneficence  and  equity  ; 
since  he  produces  within  Himself  from  all  eternity  an 
infinite  object  that  exhausts,  so  to  speak,  all  His  capac- 
ity of  loving,  beatifying  and  doing  justice.  The  Deists 
Socinians,  and  Unitarians,  who  deny  the  doctrine  of  the 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE   TRINITY.  351 

Trinity,  cannot  explain  how  God  is  essentially  good  and 
just,  antecedently  to,  and  independently  of,  the  creation 
of  finite  things  ;  for  God  cannot  be  eminently  good 
and  just  where  there  is  no  object  of  His  beneficence 
\y  and  equity. /v^.  .  To  complete  the  idea  of  perfect  felic- 
ity there  must  be  an  object  loving  as  well  as  an  object 
loved.  .  .  .  There  is  a  far  greater  felicity  in  loving  and 
in  being  loved  than  in  loving  simply.  It  is  the  mutual 
harmony  and  correspondence  of  two  distinct  beings  or 
persons  that  makes  the  completion  of  love  and  felicity. 
Hence  God  could  not  have  been  infinitely  and  eternally 
loved  if  there  had  not  been  from  all  eternity  some  being 
distinct  from  Himself  and  equal  to  Himself  that  loves 
Him  infinitely.  The  eternal,  infinite,  and  immutable 
Love  which  proceeds  from  the  idea  God  has  of  Himself 
is  not  a  simple  attribute,  mode,  or  perfection  of  the  di- 
vine mind ;  but  a  living,  active,  consubstantial,  intelli- 
gent being  or  agent.  .  .  .  We  may  represent  the  divine 
essence  under  these  three  notions,  —  as  an  infinitely  ac- 
tive mind  that  conceives  ;  or  as  an  infinite  idea  that  is 
the  object  of  this  conception ;  or  as  an  infinite  love  that 
proceeds  from  this  idea.  .  .  .  There  are  three  ;  there 
can  be  but  three  ;  and  all  that  we  can  conceive  of  the 
Infinite  mind  may  be  reduced  to  these  three  :  infinite 
Life,  Light,  and  Love.  .  .  .  These  three  distinctions 
in  the  Deity  are  neither  three  independent  minds,  .  .  . 
nor  three  attributes  of  the  same  substance,  .  .  .  but 
three  coeternal,  consubstantial,  coordinate  persons,  co- 
equal in  all  things,  self-origination  only  excepted.  .  .  . 
All  those  who  are  ignorant  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
of  the  generation  of  the  Logos,  of  the  procession  of  the 
Eternal  Spirit,  and  of  the  everlasting  commerce  among 
the  sacred  three,  look  upon  God's  still  eternity  as  a  state 
of  inaction  or  indolence." 


352  THE  PHILOSOPDICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

Exactly  how  much  Edwards  may  have  meant  by 
copying  into  his  note-book  passages  like  these  from 
Ramsay,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine.  At  least  he 
was  interested  in  the  thought  they  contained ;  to  a 
certain  extent  it  must  have  been  new  to  him.  How 
far  its  influence  may  be  traced  in  his  later  writings 
remains  to  be  considered.  The  Observations  on 
the  Scriptural  QEconomy  of  the  Trinity  shows  that 
a  profound  change  was  passing  over  the  mind  of 
its  author  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  divine 
existence.  Although,  as  has  been  remarked,  this 
work  created  a  sense  of  disappointment  when  it 
appeared,  yet  the  disappointment  is  only  an  evi- 
dence how  thought  has  moved  since  Edwards'  day. 
Had  it  been  published  in  his  lifetime  it  might  have 
involved  him  in  another  controversy,  and  that  with 
his  own  household  of  faith.  A  passage  like  the 
following  shows  him  to  be  aware  that  he  is  making 
an  innovation  on  views  which  were  widely  preva- 
lent :  "  It  appears  to  be  unreasonable  to  suppose, 
as  some  do,  that  the  Sonship  of  the  second  person 
of  the  Trinity  consists  only  in  the  relation  He  bears 
to  the  Father  in  His  mediatorial  character."  ^  Ed- 
wards was  contending  for  the  Trinity  as  grounded 
in  the  nature  of  things,  or  in  the  necessity  of  God's 

1  Observations,  etc.,  p.  56.  The  opinion  which  Edwards  was 
controverting  was  advanced  by  Dr.  Thomas  Ridgeley  in  1731. 
In  1792  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins  speaks  of  it  "as  gaining  ground 
and  spreading  of  late."  Cf.  Prof.  E  C.  Smyth,  Appendix  to 
Observations,  etc.,  p.  01,  for  a  list  of  references  bearing  on  this 
point.  But  Edwards  was  also  controverting  his  own  earlier  view. 
Cf .  the  passages  where  he  alludes  to  the  Trinity,  ante,  p.  99. 


THE  METHOD   OF  CALVIN.  353 

being.  Although  he  could  not  have  been  ac- 
quainted with  the  process  of  historical  theology, 
yet  the  working  of  his  mind  was  leading  him  into 
the  same  path  through  the  mazes  of  thought,  which 
Origen  and  Athanasius  had  also  followed.  The 
way  in  which  he  was  travelling  was  by  no  means 
a  familiar  one  in  the  Cahdnistic  churches,  and  by 
many  it  was  regarded  with  distrust  or  mislike. 
The  method  of  Calvin  had  been  for  the  most  part 
prevalent,  which  waived  aside  the  doctrine  of  the 
eternal  generation  of  the  Son  as  unnecessary  or  un- 
j^rofitable,  or  even  as  "an  absurd  fiction."  ^  Such 
a  method  as  Calvin's  might  answer  the  practical 
needs  of  the  church,  so  long  as  thought  lay  dor- 
mant, or  tradition  and  Scripture  possessed  an  un- 
questioned authority.  In  the  eighteenth  century, 
when  the  aj^peal  was  carried  to  the  reason,  the 
divinity  of  Christ  was  endangered  by  the  silence 
of  those  who  refused  to  follow  the  voice  of  reason 
as  it  pointed  toward  Christ  as  the  eternal  Son, 
wdthout  whose  coequal  and  coeternal  presence  with 
the  Father  even  the  thought  of  God  was  becoming 
impossible.    To  maintain  the  divinity  of  Christ,  as 

1  "I  do  not  undertake,"  says  Calvin,  "to  satisfy  those  who 
delight  in  speculative  views.  .  •  .  Studying  the  edification  of  the 
church,  I  have  thought  it  better  not  to  toiich  on  various  topics 
which  could  have  yielded  little  profit,  while  they  must  have  need- 
lessly burdened  and  fatigued  the  reader.  For  instance,  what 
avails  it  to  discuss,  as  Lombard  does  at  length,  AYhether  or  not 
the  Father  always  generates  ?  This  idea  of  continual  generation 
becomes  an  absurd  fiction  from  the  moment  it  is  seen  that  from 
eternity  there  were  three  persons  in  one  God." — Qalym,  Institutes^ 
book  i.  eh.  13. 


354  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

was  then  the  custom,  solely  on  the  ground  that  it 
was  essential  to  His  making  an  adequate  atone- 
ment for  sin,  was  to  involve  the  rejection  of  His 
divinity  if  such  a  theory  of  atonement  should  be- 
come obnoxious.  If  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  popu- 
larly conceived,  was  but  the  divine  energy  applying 
the  benefits  of  Christ's  atonement,  there  would  be 
no  necessity  for  His  existence  as  a  coequal  factor 
or  distinction  in  the  divine  essence,  when  some 
different  and  higher  view  of  human  nature  should 
have  arisen  in  place  of  the  doctrine  of  original  sin. 
Such  was  the  process  by  which,  in  the  mind  of  the 
last  century,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  un- 
dermined. Not  to  ground  the  distinctions  in  the 
divine  essence  by  some  immanent,  eternal  necessity 
was  to  make  easy  the  denial  of  what  has  been  called 
the  ontological  Trinity,  and  then  the  rejection  of 
the  economical  Trinity  was  not  difficult  or  far 
away. 

This  little  treatise  of  Edwards,  then,  is  far  from 
being  unimj)ortant  or  commonplace.  It  adds  to 
our  estimate  of  his  work  as  a  theologian.  He  was 
stemming  the  theological  tide  instead  of  yielding 
to  it.  He  was  asserting  a  doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
\vhich  implied  its  eternal  necessity  in  the  nature 
of  God,  even  had  there  been  no  fall,  no  need  of 
an  atonement  for  human  redemption.  Had  his 
thought  been  fidly  developed,  it  must  have  led 
him  to  the  recognition  of  Christ  as  sustaining  an 
organic  relation  to  the  world  of  outward  nature. 
As  Christ  is  the  creative  wisdom  of  God  in  whom 


TEE  BEAUTY  OF  CHRIST  IN  NATURE.        355 

God  saw  Himself  reflected,  so  the  beauty  and  the 
glory  of  Christ  is  visible  in  the  world  of  created 
things.  The  following  exquisite  passage  deserves 
no  apology  for  being  reproduced  at  length.  It  does 
not  belong  to  the  Observations,  but  has  been  re- 
cently recovered  from  Edwards'  manuscripts  :  — 

"  We  have  shown  that  the  Son  of  God  created  the 
world  for  this  very  end,  to  communicate  Himself  in  an 
image  of  His  own  excellency.  He  communicates  Him- 
self properly  only  to  spirits,  and  they  only  are  capable 
of  being  proper  images  of  His  excellency,  for  they  only 
are  properly  helngs,  as  we  have  shown.  Yet  He  com- 
municates a  sort  of  a  shadow  or  glimpse  of  His  excel- 
lencies to  bodies  which,  as  we  have  shown,  are  but  the 
shadows  of  beings  and  not  real  beings.  He  who,  by 
His  immediate  influence,  gives  being  every  moment,  and 
by  His  spirit  actuates  the  world,  because  He  inclines  to 
communicate  Himself  and  His  excellencies,  doth  doubt- 
less communicate  His  excellency  to  bodies,  as  far  as 
there  is  any  consent  or  analogy.  And  the  beauty  of 
face  and  sweet  airs  in  men  are  not  always  the  effect  of 
the  corresponding  excellencies  of  mind  ;  yet  the  beauties 
of  nature  are  reaUy  emanations  or  shadows  of  the  excelr 
lency  of  the  Son  of  God. 

"  So  that,  when  we  are  delighted  with  flowery  mead- 
ows and  gentle  breezes  of  wind,  we  may  consider  that 
we  see  only  the  emanations  of  the  sweet  benevolence  of 
Jesus  Christ.  When  we  behold  the  fragrant  rose  and 
lily,  we  see  His  love  and  purity.  So  the  green  trees  and 
fields,  and  singing  of  birds,  are  the  emanations  of  His 
infinite  joy  and  benignity.  The  easiness  and  naturalness 
of  trees  and  vines  are  shadows  of  His  beauty  and  loveli- 


356  TEE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

ness.  The  crystal  rivers  and  murmuring  streams  are 
the  footsteps  of  His  favor,  grace,  and  beauty.  When 
we  behold  the  light  and  brightness  of  the  sun,  the  golden 
edges  of  an  evening  cloud,  or  the  beauteous  bow,  we  be- 
hold the  adumbrations  of  His  glory  and  goodness  ;  and 
in  the  blue  sky,  of  his  mildness  and  gentleness.  There 
are  also  many  things  wherein  we  may  behold  His  awful 
majesty :  in  the  sun  in  his  strength,  in  comets,  in  thun- 
der, in  the  hovering  thunder-clouds,  in  ragged  rocks  and 
the  brows  of  mountains.  That  beauteous  light  with 
which  the  world  is  filled  in  a  clear  day  is  a  lively  shadow 
of  His  spotless  holiness,  and  happiness  and  delight  in 
communicating  Himself.  And  doubtless  this  is  a  reason 
that  Christ  is  compared  so  often  to  those  things,  and 
called  by  their  names,  as  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  the 
morning-star,  the  rose  of  Sharon,  and  lily  of  the  valley, 
the  apple-tree  among  trees  of  the  wood,  a  bundle  of 
myrrh,  a  roe,  or  a  young  hart.  By  this  we  may  dis- 
cover the  beauty  of  many  of  those  metaphors  and  similes 
which  to  an  unphilosojyhical  person  do  seem  so  uncouth. 
"  In  like  manner,  when  we  behold  the  beauty  of  man's 
body  in  its  perfection,  we  still  see  like  emanations  of 
Christ's  divine  perfections,  although  they  do  not  always 
flow  from  the  mental  excellencies  of  the  person  that  has 
them.  But  we  see  the  most  proper  image  of  the  beauty 
of  Christ  when  we  see  beauty  in  the  human  soul."  ^ 

1  Observations,  etc.,  Appendix,  pp.  94-97.  When  this  passage 
was  written  there  is  no  means  of  determining-  without  further 
appeal  to  the  manuscripts.  I  should  like  to  think  that  it  belonged 
to  Edwards'  later  years,  and  was  nearly  contemporaneous  with 
his  writings  on  the  Trinity.  But  it  may  have  belonged  to  his 
youth,  and  have  been  written  not  long  after  the  Notes  on  the  Mind. 
For  sim^ilar  expressions  of  thought  regarding  the  relation  of  Christ 
to  the  creation,  the  reader  may  be  referred  to  Domer,  Person  of 


TREATISE   ON  GRACE.  357 

This  beautiful  passage,  which  illustrates  the 
poetic  temperament  of  Edwards,  has  also  its  the- 
ological significance.  He  was  reproducing  t^e 
Christ  of  the  early  church,  who  is  organically  re- 
lated to  nature  and  to  man,  —  the  manifestation  of 
the  wisdom  of  God.  But  he  was  resuming  also, 
though  he  may  not  have  known  it,  the  discussion 
of  the  Trinity  at  the  point  where  it  was  dropped  in 
ancient  controversies,  developing  the  doctrine  after 
a  manner  of  his  own  which  deserves  the  closest  at- 
tention. His  Treatise  on  Grace,  however  uninter- 
esting its  title,  contains  perhaps  his  most  important 
contribution  to  theological  progress.  Of  this  work 
Mr.  Grossart,  its  Scotch  editor,  has  remarked ;  "  I 
shall  be  surprised  if  this  treatise  do  not  at  once 
take  rank  with  its  kindred  one  on  the  Religious 
Affections.  There  is  in  it,  I  think,  the  massive 
argumentation  of  his  great  work  on  the  Will,  but 
there  is  in  addition  a  fineness  of  spiritual  insight, 
a  holy  fervor,  not  untinged  with  the  pathetic 
frenzy  of  the  English  Mystics,  as  of  Peter  Sterry 
and  Archbishop  Leighton,  and,  especially  toward 
the  close,  a  rapturous  exultation  '  in  the  excel- 
lency and  loveliness '  of  God  ;  a  glow  in  iteration  of 
the  wonder,  and  beauty,  and  blessedness  of  Divine 
Love ;  and  a  splendor  of  assertion  of  the  claims, 
so  to  speak,  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  it  would  be 
difficult  to  overestimate."    The  distinctive  purpose 

Christ,  Eng.  trans.,  vols.  i.  and  ii.  Cf.,  also,  Twesten,  Vorlesungen, 
vol.  ii  pp.  199,  ff. ,  for  an  admirable  statement  of  how  the  second 
person  in  the  Trinity  is  organically  related  to  the  external  world. 


358  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

of  this  unknown  work,  printed  only  for  a  limited 
circulation,  will  not  be  exaggerated  it  be  placed 
in  comparison  with  two  other  treatises,  like  it 
small  in  extent,  but  vast  in  their  influence,  — 
works  which  have  created  e23ochs  in  Christian 
thought  and  experience,  —  Athanasius  on  the  In- 
carnation of  the  Word,  and  Anselm's  Cur  Deus 
Homo.  The  work  of  Athanasius  reveals  the  im- 
port of  the  Nicene  theology  as  centring  in  the 
Word  made  flesh,  while  Anselm  formulated  the 
conception  of  an  atonement  which  became  the 
controlling  idea  in  Latin  Christendom.  Edwards 
brings  out,  as  it  had  not  been  done  before  in  the 
whole  history  of  theology,  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  —  as  related  on  the  one  hand  to  the  inner 
mystery  of  the  divine  nature,  and  on  the  other  to 
the  spiritual  life  of  man. 

Among  the  characteristics  of  the  Treatise  on 
Grace,  one  of  the  foremost  to  arrest  attention  is 
the  abandonment  of  the  ethical  principle  laid  do^vn 
in  the  Nature  of  True  Virtue.  Edwards  had  there 
asserted  in  his  most  positive  manner  that  virtue 
primarily  consists  in  love  to  being  in  general ;  in 
the  prospensity,  as  he  calls  it,  in  the  impulsion  or 
gravitation,  as  it  were,  of  the  infinitely  smaller 
fragments  of  being  to  the  infinitely  larger  mass  of 
being.  Or,  as  he  had  there  said  :  "  True  virtue 
primarily  consists,  not  in  love  to  any  particular 
Beings  because  of  their  virtue  or  beauty,  nor  in 
gratitude  because  they  love  us,  but  in  a  propen- 
sity  and   union  of   heart   to   Being   simply   con- 


SELF-CONTRADICTION.  359 

sidered."^  But  in  the  Treatise  on  Grace  he 
writes  :  "  The  main  ground  of  true  love  to  God 
is  the  excellency  of  His  own  nature."  These  two 
kinds  of  love  Edwards  had  designated  as  the  "  love 
of  benevolence "  and  the  "  love  of  complacence." 
In  his  dissertation  on  Virtue  he  placed  love  of 
benevolence  first,  as  the  primary  ground  of  virtue, 
to  which  the  love  of  complacence  was  secondary 
or  subordinate.  He  now  asserts  :  "  Of  these  two,  a 
love  of  complacence  is  first,  and  is  the  foundation 
of  the  other ;  i.  e.  if  by  a  love  of  complacence  be 
meant  a  relishing,  a  sweetness  in  the  qualifications 
of  the  beloved,  and  a  being  pleased  and  delighted 
in  his  excellency.  This  in  the  order  of  nature  is 
before  benevolence,  because  it  is  the  foundation 
and  reason  of  it.  A  person  must  first  relish  that 
wherein  the  amiableness  of  nature  consists,  before 
he  can  wish  well  to  him  on  account  of  that  loveli- 
ness." 2  This  passage  is  bracketed,  as  it  stands  in 
the  manuscript,  —  an  indication,  it  may  be,  that 
Edwards  was  aware  of  the  contradiction,  or  wished 
to  give  the  subject  fuller  consideration.  But  not 
to  speculate  on  his  purpose  in  bracketing  the  pas- 
sage, or  as  to  what  would  have  been  his  final  con- 
clusion, it  is  more  important  to  observe  the  open- 
ness of  his  mind  at  an  age  when  most  men  have 
fixed  their  conclusions  beyond  the  possibility  of 
change.  He  seems  to  be  exemplifying  here  the 
resolution  of  his  youth,  that  he  will  be   impartial 

1  Nature  of  True  Virtue,  vol.  ii.  p.  264. 

2  Grossart,  Selections,  etc.,  p.  47. 


360  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

in  hearing  and  receiving  what  is  rational,  how 
long  soever  he  may  have  been  used  to  another 
method  of  thinking.  As  to  how  this  extraordinary 
contradiction  is  to  be  accounted  for,  only  a  word 
of  suggestion  can  be  offered.  The  necessities  of 
the  controversy  against  the  Arminians,  the  desire 
to  find  a  basis  for  virtue  which  would  include  the 
natural  man,  the  non-elect  as  well  as  the  elect, 
forced  him  to  take  one  view  ;  when  he  wrote  apart 
from  this  necessity,  he  was  irresistibly  impelled 
toward  the  other.  The  contradiction  reaches  down 
to  the  depths  of  Edwards'  theology.  It  conceals 
an  intimation  that  the  distinction  between  elect 
and  non-elect  was  not  defensible  in  the  last  analy- 
sis of  his  thought,  without  some  sacrifice  of  essen- 
tial truth,  which  he  was  unwilling  to  make.  The 
probability  is  that  on  this  point  we  must  leave  Ed- 
wards in  his  self-contradiction,  as  his  only  method 
of  maintaining  his  fundamental  tenet. 

It  is  a  leading  feature  of  the  Treatise  on  Grace 
that  it  identifies  gi^ace  with  the  indwelling  God  in 
the  soul.  As  one  reads  Edwards'  glowing  words 
on  this  subject,  the  mind  travels  back  through 
sacramental  theologies  to  the  time  when  the  "  doc- 
trines of  grace,"  as  they  are  called,  were  first  for- 
mulated in  the  Latin  church  of  the  fifth  century. 
In  the  earlier  and  higher  thought  of  the  fathers 
before  the  time  of  Augustine,  a  personal  Christ  or 
the  indwellino^  divine  wisdom  had  been  the  formula 
which  represented  the  power  of  God  unto  salva- 
tion.    But  when  an  "  impersonal  grace  "  was  sub- 


CONCEPTION  OF  GRACE.  861 

stituted  for  the  personal  life  of  God  in  the  soul, 
sacramental  agencies  were  placed  foremost  as  the 
channels  through  which  an  occult  spiritual  influ- 
ence was  imparted.  "  Grace  "  remained  a  word 
undefined,  despite  the  various  meanings  assigned 
to  it,  through  the  Middle  Ages  and  on  through  the 
Reformation  age.  The  word  "  grace  "  plays  a  large 
part  in  Edwards'  theology.  But  it  was  impossible 
that  he  should  be  content  without  attempting  its 
definition.  In  his  conception  of  grace  he  has  made 
another  important  contribution  to  the  advancement 
of  theology  which  is  not  included  among  the  so- 
called  "  improvements  "  in  wliich  the  younger  Ed- 
wards ^  has  summarized  his  father's  work.  To 
Edwards  belongs  the  honor  of  reasserting  the  in- 
dwelling and  personal  life  of  God  in  the  soul,  in 
place  of  the  substitutes  which  men  had  de\ased. 
His  own  words  on  this  point,  contained  in  his  un- 
published Treatise  on  Grace,  are  too  emphatic  and 
impressive  to  be  omitted  :  — 

"The  doctrine  of  a  gracious  nature  being  by  the 
immediate  influence  of  the  Spirit,  is  not  only  taught  in 
the  Serif) tures,  but  is  irrefragable  to  Reason.  Indeed, 
there  seems  to  be  a  strong  disposition  in  men  to  dis- 
believe and  oppose  the  doctrine  of  immediate  influence 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  hearts  of  men,  or  to  diminish 
and  make  it  as  small  and  remote  a  matter  as  possible, 
and  put  it  as  far  out  of  sight  as  may  be.  Whereas,  it 
seems  to  me,  true  virtue  and  holiness  would  naturally 

^  Remarks  on  the  Improvements  made  in  Theology,  by  Presi- 
dent Edwards,   Works,  vol.  i.  pp.  481-492. 


362  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

excite  a  prejudice  (if  I  may  so  say)  in  favor  of  such  a 
doctrine  ;  and  that  the  soul,  when  in  the  most  excellent 
frame  and  the  most  lively  exercise  of  virtue,  —  love  to 
God  and  delight  in  Him,  —  would  naturally  and  un- 
avoidably think  of  God  as  kindly  communicating  Him- 
self to  him,  and  holding  communion  with  him,  as  though 
he  did,  as  it  were,  see  God  smiling  on  him,  giving  to 
him,  and  conversing  with  him  ;  and  that  if  he  did  not  so 
think  of  God,  but  on  the  contrary  should  conceive  that 
there  was  no  immediate  communication  between  God 
and  him,  it  would  tend  greatly  to  quell  his  holy  motions 
of  soul,  and  be  an  exceeding  damage  to  his  pleasure. 

"  No  good  reason  can  be  given  why  men  should  have 
such  an  inward  disposition  to  deny  any  immediate  com- 
munication between  God  and  the  creature,  or  to  make  as 
little  of  it  as  possible.  'T  is  a  strange  disposition  that 
men  have  to  thrust  God  out  of  the  world,  or  to  put  Him 
as  far  out  of  sight  as  they  can,  and  to  have  in  no  respect 
immediately  and  sensibly  to  do  with  Him.  Therefore 
so  many  schemes  have  been  drawn  to  exclude  or  exten- 
uate, or  remove  at  a  great  distance,  any  influence  of  the 
Divine  Being  in  the  hearts  of  men,  such  as  the  scheme 
of  the  Pelagians,  the  Socinians,  etc.  And  therefore 
these  doctrines  are  so  much  ridiculed  that  ascribe  much 
to  the  immediate  influence  of  the  Spirit,  and  called  en- 
thusiasm, fanaticism,  whimsey,  and  distraction  ;  but  no 
mortal  can  tell  for  what."  ^ 

It  is  another  feature  of  the  Treatise  on  Grace 
that  it  supplements  the  deficiencies  pointed  out  in 
the  Last  End  of  God  in  the  Creation.  The  con- 
ception of  Deity  there  presented  was  closely  akin 

^  Grossart,  Selections,  etc.,  p.  40. 


MYSTERY  OF   UNION  WITH  CHRIST.         363 

to  tlie  Sabellian  monad,  who  dwelt  in  silence  and 
inactivity  until  lie  came  forth  for  the  creation. 
But  the  doctrine  of  eternal  distinctions  within  the 
divine  essence,  of  a  spiritual  fellowship  from  all 
eternity  between  the  Father  and  the  Son  whose 
mutual  bond  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  now  presented 
in  such  an  eloquent  way,  with  such  deep  con\^c- 
tion,  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that  it  formed  an  essen- 
tial element  in  Edwards'  thought.  That  it  does 
not,  however,  appear  in  his  earlier  works,  has  al- 
ready been  noticed.  He  was  silent,  as  has  been 
sho^vn,^  when  he  should  have  spoken,  as  in  his  ser- 
mon on  Justification,  where  he  declines  to  define 
too  closely  the  organic  relationship  of  the  believer 
with  Christ.  But  the  omission  is  now  remedied. 
"  Herein  lies  the  mystery  of  the  vital  union  that  is 
between  Christ  and  the  soul  of  a  believer,  which 
orthodox  divines  speak  so  much  of,  —  that  is.  His 
Spirit  is  actually  united  to  the  faculties  of  their 
souls.  .  .  .  And  thus  it  is  that  the  saints  are  said 
to  live,  yet  not  they,  but  Christ,  lives  in  them.  The 
very  promise  of  spiritual  life  in  their  souls  is  no 
other  than  the  spirit  of  Christ  Himself.  So  that 
they  live  by  His  life  as  much  as  the  members  of 
the  body  live  by  the  life  of  the  Lord,  and  as  much 
as  the  branches  live  by  the  life  of  the  root  and 
stock.  '  Because  I  live  ye  shall  live  also.'  We 
are  dead,  but  our  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  ^ 
It  is  characteristic  still  fiu-ther  of  the  Treatise 

1  Cf.  ante,  pp.  97,  fP. 

^  Grossart,  Selections,  p.  54. 


364  THE  PEILOSOPniCAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

on  Grace,  that  it  aims  to  win  a  place  for  the  Holy 
Spirit,  not  only  in  the  economy  of  redemption 
but  also  in  the  nature  of  Godhead,  which  shall  be 
coequal  with  that  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  In 
the  Miltonic  descriptions  of  the  councils  in  heaven, 
where  God  the  Father  is  represented  as  deliberat- 
ing or  making  covenant  with  the  Son  in  regard  to 
the  deliverance  of  man,  the  Divine  Spirit  finds  no 
equal  footing  of  honor  and  dignity.  So,  also,  in 
the  ancient  church,  the  work  of  the  Spirit  had 
been  left  undefined  at  the  Nicene  Council,  nor  did 
the  ensuing  discussion  of  the  subject  possess  the 
same  general  or  enduring  interest  as  the  contro- 
versy over  the  equality  of  the  Son  with  the  Father.^ 
And  those  who  still  approach  this  exalted  theme  can 
more  readily  see  the  force  of  the  reasoning  which 
demands  an  Eternal  Son,  while  they  experience 
difficulty  in  formulating  the  position  which  the 
Spirit  holds  in  the  mystery  of  the  Godhead  or  in 
the  redemption  of  man.  The  two  largest  divisions 
of  the  Catholic  Church  are  still  and  have  long  been 
separated  by  a  subtle,  it  seems  to  some  an  ahnost 
incomprehensible,  distinction  in  regard  to  the  pro- 
cession of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Edwards  was  conscious 
that  on  this  subject  his  mind  was  moving  in  ad- 
vance of  the  popular  thought :  "  If  we  suppose  no 
more  than  used  to  be  supposed   about   the  Holy 

^  "The  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  says  Dr.  SchafF,  "was 
not  in  any  respect  so  accurately  developed  in  this  period  as  the 
doctrine  concerning'  Christ,  and  it  shows  many  g-aps. "  —  Hist,  of 
the  Chris.  Ch.,  vol.  iii.  p.  606.  The  remark  might  be  extended  to 
cover  the  later  periods  of  Christian  history. 


DESCRIPTION   OF   DIVINE  LOVE.  Zijiy 

Ghost,  the  honor  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  work 
of  Redemj^tion  is  not  equal  in  any  sense  to  the 
Father's  and  the  Son's."  ^ 

How,  then,  did  he  meet  the  difficulty  ?  The  an- 
swer may  be  given  in  a  brief  analysis  of  the  Trea- 
tise on  Grace.  In  the  first  place,  grace  is  made 
identical  with  charity  or  divine  love.  This  love  is 
not  merely  exerted  toward  men,  but  rather  prima- 
rily and  mainly  toward  God.  Love  is  the  essence 
of  Christianity.  When  love  shall  be  free  from  all 
mixtures  which  accompany  or  disfigure  its  earthly 
state,  it  will  stand  forth  in  its  exaltation  as  the 
charity  which  never  faileth.  Love  is  so  essential 
that  all  religion  is  but  hypocrisy  and  a  vain  show 
without  it.  From  it  and  comprehended  in  it  are 
all  good  dispositions  and  duties.  The  love  to  God 
is  not  distinct  from  the  love  to  man ;  they  are  one 
and  the  same  principle  flowing  forth  toward  dif- 
ferent objects.  But  how  shall  this  divine  love  be 
defined,  seeing  that  "  things  of  this  nature  are  not 
l^roperly  capable  of  a  definition,  they  are  better 
felt  than  defined  "  ?  But  the  love  which  has  God 
for  its  object  may  be  described,  if  not  defined :  it 
is  the  soul's  relish  of  the  supreme  excellency  of  the 
Divine  nature,  inclining  the  heart  to  God  as  the 
chief  good.  The  sa\ang  grace  in  the  soul,  which 
radically  and  sunmiarily  consists  in  divine  love, 
"  comes  into  existence  in  the  soul  by  the  power  of 
God  in  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Third 
Person  iji  the  Blessed  Trinity."    But  the  Scripture 

^  Grossart,  Selections,  p.  51. 


366  THE  PHILOSOPniCAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

speaks  of  this  lioly  and  divine  love  in  the  soul  as 
not  only  from  the  Spirit,  but  as  being  in  itself 
spiritual.  It  is  not  called  spiritual  because  it  has 
its  seat  in  the  spirit  of  man  as  contrasted  with  liis 
body.  It  is  called  spiritual  because  of  its  relation 
to  the  Spirit  of  God. 

At  this  point  Edwards  makes  the  transition 
which  brings  him  rapidly  to  the  climax  of  his 
thought.  That  love  within  the  soul  which  consti- 
tutes saving  grace  is  not  merely  a  result  wrought 
by  the  influence  of  the  Spirit,  it  is  not  merely  an 
attribute  of  the  divine  character,  but  it  is  an  in- 
finite personality ;  it  is  in  itseK  nothing  less  than 
the  very  essence  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Of  the 
Holy  Spirit  it  must  be  affirmed  that  in  some  pecu- 
liar sense  He  is  love,  even  as  it  cannot  be  predi- 
cated of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  It  is  true  that 
the  Godliead,  or  the  entire  Divine  essence,  is  said  to 
be  love.  God  is  love,  and  he  that  dicelleth  in 
love  dicelleth  in  God  and  God  in  him ;  and  yet 
it  is  added.  Hereby  we  Tinow  that  we  dwell  in  Hbn 
because  He  hath  given  us  of  His  Spirit.  Edwards 
is  careful  to  insist  that  the  basis  of  his  position  is 
a  Scriptural  one.  "  In  an  inquiry  of  this  nature, 
I  would  go  no  further  than  I  think  the  Scripture 
plainly  goes  before  me.  The  Word  of  God  cer- 
tainly should  be  our  ride  in  matters  so  much  above 
reason  and  our  own  notions."  And  this  appears 
to  him  to  be  the  teaching  of  Scripture,  that  love  is 
the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  love.  Love 
is  not  an  attribute  of  God,  but  it  is  God,  —  an  infi- 


LOVE    IS   THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.  367 

nite  and  vital  energy  wliicli  is  most  truly  conceived 
as  personal.  Because  it  indwells  in  man,  it  makes 
liim  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  "  Scripture 
leads  us  to  tliis  conclusion,  though  it  be  infinitely 
above  us  to  conceive  how  it  shovdd  be."  Just  as 
wisdom  or  Aoyos  is  spoken  of  as  the  Son  of  God, 
after  the  same  manner  is  love  called  the  Spirit  of 
God.  It  is  said  of  the  Word  or  Wisdom  of  God : 
"  Then  was  I  with  Him  as  one  brought  up  mtli 
Him,  and  I  was  daily  His  delight,  rejoicing  alway 
before  Him."  Or  again,  in  the  Prologue  of  the 
Fourth  Gospel :  "In  the  beginning  was  the  Logos 
(or  Word  J,  and  the  Logos  was  with  God,  and  Logos 
was  God."  Just  as  the  fathers  in  the  ancient 
church  had  asserted  of  reason,  however  or  wher- 
ever it  might  be  manifested,  tliat  it  was  no  human 
quality  casually  exerted,  but  evidence  of  the  in- 
dwelling of  the  divine  reason  which  is  God,  so 
Edwards  now  speaks  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  the  com- 
mon mode  of  speech  to  say  that  God  is  love.  It 
indicates  some  profound  change  in  the  basis  of 
thought  when  the  expression  is  reversed  and  it  is 
said  that  love  is  God.  But  to  such  a  mode  of 
thinking  Edwards  had  come.  And  now  the  quali- 
fications of  his  earlier  writings  tend  to  disappear 
as  he  expounds  his  conviction  that  Love,  in  some 
pecidiar  sense,  is  an  infinite  person.  Life,  and 
Light,  and  Love,  —  these  are  God.  It  makes  the 
spiritual  nature  of  man  throb  as  with  the  pulsar 
tions  of  eternity  to  know  that  the  action  of  God 
upon   the  soul  is  no  impartation  of   power  from 


368  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL    THEOLOGIAN. 

without,  but  the  presence  of  the  divinity  within. 
In  this  process  the  highest  place  is  assigned  to  the 
personal  indwelling  Spirit.  When  it  is  said  that 
the  Father  and  the  Son  love  and  delight  in  each 
other,  so  that  there  is  perfect  and  intimate  union 
between  them,  it  must  be  understood  that  the  bond 
of  tliis  felicity  is  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"  The  Holy  Si)irit  does  in  some  ineffable  and  incon- 
ceivable manner  proceed  and  is  breathed  forth  from  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  by  the  Divine  essence  being  wholly 
poured  and  flowing  out  in  that  infinitely  intense,  holy, 
and  pure  love  and  delight  that  continually  and  un- 
changeably breathe  forth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
primarily  toward  each  other  and  secondarily  toward  the 
creature,  and  so  flowing  forth  in  a  different  subsistence 
or  person  in  a  manner  to  us  utterly  inexplicable  and  in- 
conceivable, and  that  this  is  that  person  poured  forth 
into  the  hearts  of  angels  and  saints.  Hence  it  is  to  be 
accounted  for  that,  though  we  often  read  in  Scripture  of 
the  Father  loving  the  Son  and  the  Son  loving  the  Fa- 
ther, yet  we  never  once  read  either  of  the  Father  or  the 
Son  loving  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  Spirit  loving  either 
of  them.  It  is  because  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Divine 
Love,  the  love  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  Hence  also 
it  is  to  be  accounted  for,  that  we  very  often  read  of  the 
love  both  of  the  Father  and  the  Son  to  men,  and  partic- 
ularly their  love  to  the  saints  ;  but  we  never  read  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  loving  them,  for  the  Holy  Ghost  is  that 
love  of  God  and  Christ  that  is  breathed  foitli  primarily 
toward  each  other,  and  flows  out  secondarily  toward  the 
creature.  .  .  .  He  is  the  Deity  wholly  breathed  forth 


PARTICIPATION   IN   THE  DIVINE  NATURE.    369 

in  infinite,  substantial,  intelligent  love,  .  .  .  and  so  stand- 
ing forth  a  distinct  personal  subsistence."  ^ 

Three  inferences  are  deduced  by  Edwards  from 
his  exposition  of  the  nature  and  office  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  In  the  first  place,  he  believed  that  he  had 
vindicated  the  coequality  of  the  Sj^irit  with  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  as  against  a  prevailing  theo- 
logical tendency  which  subordinated  or  obscured 
His  true  function.  But  now,  wonderful  as  is  the 
love  of  God  manifested  by  the  Father  in  that  He 
so  loved  the  world  as  to  send  His  Son,  wonderful 
as  is  the  love  of  the  Son  in  that  He  so  loved  the 
world  as  to  give  Himself,  yet  these  manifesta- 
tions of  divine  love  are  followed  by  a  third  and 
higher  display  of  love,  for  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
Love  itself  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  "  So  that, 
however  wonderful  the  love  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son  appear  to  be,  so  much  the  more  glory  belongs 
to  the  Holy  Spirit  in  whom  subsists  that  wonder- 
ful and  excellent  love." 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  now  seen  what  is  meant 
by  man's  becoming  a  partaker  of  the  Divine  na- 
ture. Phrases  like  this  as  they  occur  in  Scripture, 
or  similar  expressions  of  his  own,  abound  in  Ed- 
wards' writings.  But  they  are  generally  accom- 
panied with  quahfications,  such  as  "  as  if  "  or  "  as  it 
were,"  —  indications  that  Edwards  hesitated  about 
committing  himself  in  language  which  might  seem 
to  imply  the  identification  of  the  human  with  the 
divine.  But  as  the  need  of  these  qualifications  has 
^  Grossart,  Selections,  etc. ,  p.  47. 


370  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  THEOLOGIAN. 

disappeared  in  consequence  of  the  ethical  concep- 
tion of  the  Spirit  as  the  inmost  essence  of  God,  so 
Edwards'  language  tends  toward  positive,  unqual- 
ified assertion.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  fidness  of 
the  Godhead,  the  summiim  of  all  good.  "  Be- 
cause this  Spirit  which  is  the  fulness  of  God  con- 
sists in  the  love  of  God  and  Christ,  therefore  we 
by  knowing  the  love  of  Christ  are  said  to  be  filled 
with  all  the  fulness  of  God."  When  we  are  told 
that  the  saints  are  made  partakers  of  the  Divine 
nature,  we  are  to  understand  that  "  they  are  not 
only  partakers  of  a  nature  that  may  in  some  sense 
be  called  divine  because  it  is  conformed  to  the  na- 
ture of  God,  but  the  very  Deity  does  in  some 
sense  dwell  in  them."  They  partake  of  the  holi- 
ness wherewith  God  is  holy.  Hence  the  reality  of 
the  language  of  Christ  appears  when  He  prays 
that  the  "Love  wherewith  Thou  hast  loved  Me 
may  be  in  them  and  I  in  them." 

And  in  the  third  place,  Edwards  disputes  the 
customary  language  which  speaks  of  a  principle  or 
habit  of  grace.  He  does  not  like  such  language  : 
it  seems  in  some  respects  to  carry  with  it  a  wrong 
idea,  because  it  does  not,  as  it  were,  personalize 
the  divine  love  in  ever-fresh  and  creative  divine 
activity.  To  speak  of  a  habit  of  grace  is  to  re- 
duce grace  to  an  attribute  or  quality,  or  to  make 
it  a  consequence  of  some  previous  divine  action. 
And  so  once  more  the  Berkelej^an  principle,  in  the 
extreme  form  in  which  Edwards  held  it,  reappears 
in  perhaps  its  strongest  expression  :  — 


BERKELEYANISM  APPLIED  TO  SPIRIT.       371 

"  The  giving  one  gracious  discovery  or  act  of  grace, 
)r  a  thousand,  has  no  proper  natural  tendency  to  cause 
m  abiding  habit  of  grace  for  the  future,  nor  any  other- 
[vise  than  by  divine  constitution  and  covenant.  But  all 
mcceeding  acts  of  grace  must  be  as  immediately,  and 
:o  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  much  from  the  immediate 
icting  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  the  soul  as  the  first ; 
md  if  God  should  take  away  His  spirit  out  of  the  soul, 
ill  habits  and  acts  of  grace  would  of  themselves  cease, 
is  lioht  ceases  in  a  room  when  the  candle  is  carried  out. 

o 

Ajid  no  man  has  a  habit  of  grace  dwelling  in  him  any 
jtherwise  than  as  he  has  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in 
bim  in  His  temple,  and  acting  in  union  with  his  natural 
faculties,  after  the  manner  of  a  vital  principle.  So  that, 
tvhen  they  act  grace,  't  is,  in  the  language  of  the  apostle, 
'  not  they  but  Christ  living  in  them.'  "  ^ 

The  substance  of  the  missing  essay,  as  we  are 
assured  on  the  best  authority,  is  given  in  these  two 
treatises,  —  Observations  on  the  Trinity,  and  the 
Treatise  on  Grace.  We  are  therefore  in  a  position 
to  judge  whether  Edwards'  thought  contained  a 
departure  from  received  views  in  the  Puritan 
churches,  as  also  how  it  stands  related  to  the 
larger  thought  of  the  church  in  every  age.  That 
there  is  a  departure,  and  a  significant  one,  needs  no 
further  demonstration.  The  missing  essay  plainly 
justifies  the  comment  already  quoted,  that  it  was 
worked  out  with  great  care,  and  was  marked  by 
great  boldness  and  independence  of  thought.  No 
student  of  Edwards'  works  can  help  noticing  the 

^  Grossart,  p.  55. 


372  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

difference  in  his  tone  in  these  treatises  under 
review  as  compared  with  his  other  works.  It 
seems  like  listening  to  an  interlude  in  his  thought, 
or  as  if  he  had  wandered  for  a  moment  in  distant 
and  unfamiliar  fields,  and  were  in  danger  of  for- 
getting his  old  haunts,  of  not  returning  again  to 
the  principles  by  which  his  name  is  kno\\Ti  in 
theology.  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  his  view 
of  the  Trinity  is  not  Arian  or  Sabellian,  nor  does 
it  show  any  leaning  to  Pelagianism.  He  was  re- 
producing to  a  certain  extent  what  is  known  as  the 
Nicene  or  Athanasian  theology,  whose  affiliations, 
if  tliey  had  been  followed  out  to  their  legitimate 
conclusions,  would  have  led  him  far  away  from  the 
tenets  of  Augustine  or  Calvin.  Dr.  Bushnell  was 
not  far  from  the  truth  when  he  spoke  of  the  miss- 
ing essay  as  containing  an  a  priori  argument  for 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  The  stages  in  the 
history  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  have  been 
briefly  and  accurately  summarized  as,  in  the  early 
church,  a  doctrine  of  reason;  in  the  Middle  Ages 
a  mystery,  in  the  eighteenth  century  a  meaningless 
or  irrational  dogma ;  and  again,  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  a  doctrine  of  the  reason,  a  truth  essential 
to  the  nature  of  God.  In  an  age  when  there  ex- 
isted a  widespread  tendency  to  reject  the  doctrine 
as  irrational,  and  when  those  who  held  it  betrayed 
the  influence  of  their  environment  by  avoiding 
thought  upon  the  subject  as  dangerous,  or  taking 
refuge  in  Scripture  as  the  only  sure  foundation  for 
its  support,  Edwards  appears  as  anticipating  that 


THE  DIVINE  REASON  IN  MAN.  373 

feature  of  modern  theology  which  finds  in  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  the  essence  of  the  Christian 
faith,  as  well  as  the  formula  for  the  interpretation 
of  Christian  experience. 

But  if  Edwards  appears  as  tending  toward  the 
Nicene  theology,  or  even  as  carrying  its  develop- 
ment to  a  higher  result  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  till  his  statement  approximates  the  Hege- 
lian principle  of  the  life  of  the  Spirit,  yet  one  es- 
sential aspect  of  that  theology  he  not  only  failed 
to  grasp,  but,  it  may  be,  he  sternly  and  to  the  very 
last  rejected.  We  read  in  his  Treatise  on  Grace 
how  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  mutual  love  of  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  takes  up  His  abode  in  hiunan 
souls,  and  how  this  love  is  no  mere  attribute  or 
quality  infused  from  without,  but  a  divine  person- 
ality within.  Why  could  he  not  also  have  main- 
tained, as  ancient  fathers  had  done,  as  Justin 
Martyr  had  so  eloquently  taught,  that  the  Logos 
or  Divine  Reason  also  indwelt  in  humanity,  so  that 
mankind  was  constituted  in  Clu?ist,  and  shared 
with  Him  in  the  consubstantial  image  of  the 
Father  ?  If  love  may  indwell  as  a  personal  force 
in  the  soul,  why  not  also  the  Divine  Reason,  —  the 
light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world  ?  What  is  there  in  man  with  which  the 
Spirit  may  fitly  associate  if  it  be  not  this  potential 
image  of  the  Son?  Upon  what  can  the  Spirit 
fasten  in  humanity  unless  it  be  this  divine  princi- 
ple in  the  soul,  which,  deeper  and  stronger  than 
the  evil  in  every  man,  binds  the  soul  to  Christ  as 


374  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

its  organic  head  ?  It  was  not  tliat  Edwards  failed 
to  see  tills  truth,  that  he  did  not  receive  it.  As 
we  turn  over  again  the  discolored  pages  of  that 
ancient  periodical,  the  Montlily  Review,  for  the 
year  1750-51,  in  which  he  first  met  the  Christian 
philosophy  of  Ramsay,  we  seem  to  be  brought  into 
closer  contact  with  Edwards'  mind.  There  were 
passages,  over  which  we  may  imagine  him  as  bend- 
ing in  serious  contemplation,  which  yet  he  does  not 
seem  to  have  copied  into  his  note-book.  There  is 
one  in  particular  which  reads  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  consubstantial  Logos  united  Himself  also  fi*om 
the  beginning  to  a  finite  nature  composed  of  soul  and 
body,  that  so  he  might  converse  with  created  intelli- 
gences in  a  sensible  manner ;  be  their  conductor  and 
guide,  their  model  and  high  priest ;  lead  them  into  the 
central  depth  of  the  Divinity,  and  from  thence  into  all 
the  immense  region  of  nature ;  show  them  by  turns  the 
beauties  of  the  original  and  the  pictures  ;  and  teach  them 
the  homage  finite  beings  owe  to  the  Infinite." 

In  that  exquisite  quotation  from  Edwards'  man- 
uscript given  above, ^  where  he  speaks  of  outward 
nature  reflecting  the  beauty  of  Christ,  he  comes 
very  near  speaking  of  humanity  as  if  it  also  re- 
flected the  same  glorious  beauty.  But  when  he 
reaches  the  point  where  we  await  this  confession, 
he  turns  aside,  unwilling  to  admit  that  man  as  man 
has  any  relationship  with  the  Son  of  God,  unless 
it  may  be  in  the  lower  beauty  and  grace  of  the 
human  body.  Outward  nature  may  reflect  Christ's 
(  1  Cf .  ante,  p.  355. 


CHRIST  AND  HUMANITY.  375 

glory,  but  as  yet  humanity  does  not.  Or,  in  his 
own   lano-uao'e  :   "  From    hence   it  is  evident  that 

O  CI 

man  is  in  a  fallen  state,  and  that  he  has  scarcely 
anything  of  those  sweet  graces  which  are  an  image 
of  those  which  are  in  Christ.  For  no  doubt,  see- 
ing that  other  creatures  have  an  image  of  them, 
according  to  their  capacity,  so  also  the  rational 
and  intelligent  part  of  the  world  once  had  accord- 
ing to  theirs." 

And  so  from  the  consideration  of  this  high 
theme  of  the  Christian  Trinity  Edwards  turned 
away  to  his  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of  original 
sin.  It  has  already  been  suggested  ^  that  he  con- 
templated such  a  work  as  a  supplement  to  his 
Freedom  of  the  Will.  He  may  have  been  only 
following  out  an  earlier  purpose,  when  he  turned 
from  the  mystery  of  the  divine  nature  to  the  pro- 
cess by  which  humanity  had  been  deprived  of  its 
birthright.  But  the  transition  may  have  also  an- 
other significance.  It  looks  as  if  he  were  not  alto- 
gether satisfied  \vith  any  of  these  later  dissertations, 
—  on  Virtue,  the  End  of  the  Creation,  on  Grace, 
or  the  Trinity.  He  may  have  retained  them  for 
revision,  or  in  order  to  recast  their  shape,  before 
giving  them  to  the  world.  He  may  also  have  felt 
that  the  development  of  his  later  thought  regard- 
ing the  nature  of  God,  if  fully  carried  out,  would 
lead  to  results  incompatible  with  those  doctrines 
to  whose  advocacy  he  had  devoted  his  life ;  or  that 
he  was  standing  on  safer  grounds  when  dealing 
1  Cf.  ante,  pp.  298,  299. 


376  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   THEOLOGIAN. 

witlx  humanity  in  its  ruined  state  than  when  ex- 
ploring the  inner  mystery  of  the  being  of  God. 
However  it  may  be,  there  were  grave  deficiencies 
in  his  dissertations  on  Virtue  and  on  the  End  of 
the  Creation,  and  the  same  remark  applies  to  his 
exposition  of  the  Trinity.  His  thought  upon  this 
subject  cannot  have  been  a  mere  episode  in  his 
mental  history,  —  there  is  too  much  in  his  earlier 
writings  which  points  in  this  direction.  But  his 
treatment  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  great  as 
is  its  beauty  and  value  in  some  respects,  still  re- 
mains incomplete.  He  does  not  emphasize  the 
Eternal  Sonship  of  Christ,  nor  does  this  truth  find 
anywhere  in  his  works  an  adequate  exposition. 
His  thought  revolved  around  God  in  His  sover- 
eignty, or  the  Holy  Spirit  who  sanctifieth  all  the 
peojile  of  God.  In  the  Sonship  of  Christ  is  in- 
volved humanity  with  its  interests  and  destiny. 
But  as  humanity  in  itself  and  as  a  whole  possessed 
no  importance  in  his  eyes,  so  Christ,  who  is  its 
head,  fills  no  conspicuous  place  in  his  theology. 
The  truth  of  the  Incarnation  was  weakened,  if  not 
neutralized,  by  the  tenets  of  original  sin  and  pre- 
destination. 


CONCLUSION. 

Edwards'  short  residence  at  Stockbriclge  is  in 
beautiful  contrast  with  the  fever  and  tumult  which 
marked  the  last  years  at  Northampton.  He  speaks 
of  himself  as  finding  "  both  pleasure  and  profit " 
in  the  performance  of  tasks  congenial  to  his  mind. 
His  worldly  affairs  were  also  falling  again  into  com- 
fortable order  after  the  troubles  and  damage  which 
his  removal  had  cost  him.  But  while  he  was  ab- 
sorbed in  his  work,  he  seems  as  if  oblivious  to  the 
flight  of  years.  He  was  a  living  illustration  of  the 
words,  with  which  no  one  could  have  been  more 
familiar,  "  Of  making  many  books  there  is  no 
end,  and  much  study  is  a  weariness  of  the  flesh." 
His  life  had  been  one  of  prolonged  and  intense  ex- 
ertion, of  that  kind  also  which  drains  the  strength 
of  the  vital  faculties.  He  ought  to  have  had  many 
years  yet  before  him.  His  father,  his  mother,  his 
grandparents,  had  lived  to  an  advanced  old  age. 
But  he  had  inherited  a  delicate,  nervous  constitu- 
tion, unequal  to  the  strain  to  which  it  had  been 
subjected.  Several  times  he  had  been  brought 
low  mth  illness,  which  had  interrupted  his  work. 
But  notwithstanding  these  warnings  that  his  health 
had  begun  to  decline,  he  continued  to  write  his 


378  CONCLUSION. 

books,  and  the  more  he  wrote  "  the  more  and  wider 
the  field  opened  before  him."  In  his  secluded 
home  he  was  almost  buried  to  the  world.  The 
great  movement  of  life,  with  its  "  rushing  strain 
and  stir  of  existence,  the  immense  and  magic  spell 
of  human  affairs,"  was  shut  out  from  his  view. 
But  had  it  swept  by  his  very  door,  it  would  have 
had  no  charm  to  him.  From  his  youth  he  had 
sacrificed  the  life  that  now  is,  in  the  conviction 
that  the»  life  which  is  most  real  is  to  come  here- 
after. 

"  He  threw  on  God 
(He  loves  the  burthen) 
God's  task  to  make  the  heavenlj'^  period 
Perfect  the  earthen." 

He  had  yielded  himself  to  the  search  for  God  as 
the  only  reality  :  and  while  he  was  still  eagerly 
following  the  search,  — 

"  This  high  man, 
With  a  g-reat  thing-  to  pursue, 
Dies  ere  he  knows  it." 

In  the  last  year  of  his  life  he  received  a  call  to 
become  the  president  of  Princeton  College.  The 
call  was  unexpected,  and  must  have  reached  him  at 
the  same  time  as  the  tidings  of  the  death  of  Presi- 
dent Burr.  He  had  now  attained  the  age  of  fifty- 
three,  being  the  elder  of  his  son-in-law  by  only 
thirteen  years.  In  a  very  interesting  letter  to  the 
trustees,  he  opened  his  mind  freely  in  regard  to 
his  fitness  for  the  position.  Among  the  obstacles 
in  his  way,  he  mentions  the  difficulty  of  finding  a 


CALL    TO  PRINCETON.  379 

purchaser  for  his  estate  at  Stoekbridge,  the  ex- 
pense of  removing  his  numerous  family,  the  burden 
which  the  proper  support  of  such  an  office  would 
entail.  He  also  enters  into  particulars  regarding 
his  constitution,  remarking  that  it  is  a  peculiarly 
unliappy  one  ;  that  he  is  troubled  by  "  a  low  tide 
of  spirits,  often  occasioning  a  kind  of  childish 
weakness  and  contemptibleness  of  speech  and  be- 
havior, with  a  disagreeable  dulness,  much  unfitting 
me  for  conversation,  but  more  especially  for  the 
government  of  a  college."  He  admits  a  deficiency 
in  some  branches  of  learning,  as  in  the  higher 
mathemathics  and  the  Greek  classics.  Nor  would 
he  care  to  spend  his  time  in  teaching  languages, 
unless  it  be  Hebrew,  in  order  to  improve  himself 
while  instructing  others. 

But  the  chief  cause  which  induced  hesitation 
and  even  reluctance  in  accepting  the  extended 
honor  was  his  devotion  to  his  studies,  his  unwil- 
lingness to  put  liimseK  where  he  should  be  incapa- 
ble of  pursuing  them,  as  would  be  the  case  if  he 
were  to  undertake  the  office  of  president  as  Mr. 
Burr  had  conceived  and  fulfilled  it.  Among:  the 
projects  before  him,  there  were  still  points  of  dis- 
pute with  the  Arminians  which  he  wished  to  con- 
sider. But  the  thing  which  interested  him  most 
was  a  "  great  work  "  which  it  lay  on  his  heart  and 
mind  to  write,  —  a  History  of  Redemption.  It  was 
to  be  "a  body  of  divinity  in  an  entire  new  method, 
being  thrown  into  the  form  of  a  history."  It  was 
to  begin  and  end  with  eternity,  all  great  events 


880  CONCLUSION. 

and  epoclis  in  time  being  viewed  suh  specie  eterni- 
tatis.  The  tlu'ee  worlds  —  heaven,  earth,  and  hell  — 
were  to  be  the  scenes  of  this  grand  drama.  It  was 
to  include  also  the  topics  of  theology,  as  living 
factors  each  in  its  own  place,  but  so  that  "  every 
divine  doctrine  will  appear  to  the  greatest  advan- 
tage, in  the  brightest  light,  in  the  most  striking 
manner,  showing  the  admirable  contexture  and 
harmony  of  the  whole."  ^  It  was  to  combine 
poetry  and  history,  philosophy  and  theology,  the 
features  of  the  Divine  Comedy,  or  the  Paradise  Lost 
and  Regained,  with  those  of  Augustine's  City  of 
God.  There  is  no  evidence  that  this  was  more 
than  a  splendid  dream  which  excited  Edwards' 
imagination.  He  lacked  the  necessary  learning 
for  such  a  task.  More  than  any  other  which  he 
had  undertaken,  did  it  call  for  requisites  not  at  his 
command.  We  know,  however,  what  its  leading 
characteristic  would  have  been  had  he  lived  to 
complete  it.  Unlike  Gibbon's  great  picture,  there 
would  have  been  no  effort  to  trace  the  operation 
of  second  causes.  The  human  element,  the  myste- 
rious currents  and  counter-currents  in  human  his- 
tory, the  great  works  which  men  have  done,  —  all 
this  would  have  been  passed  over  as  unworthy  of 
attention.  History  would  have  appeared  as  alive 
with  a  divine  force,  —  the  impulse  of  an  immediate 
divine  presence.  Everj^thing  would  have  centred 
in  the  accomplishment  of  redemption,  the  mystery 
which  angels  desire   to   look  into.     There  would 

^  Dwight,  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  570. 


HISTORY  OF  REDEMPTION.  881 

have  been  no  sharp  distinction  between  the  crea- 
tive act  and  a  divine  providence  following  in  its 
wake.  God's  providence  would  be  only  another 
name  for  a  continuous  creation.  As  all  things 
were  y?'om  God,  'so  all  things  tend  to  God  in  their 
conclusion  and  final  issue. ^ 

The  call  to  Princeton  was  accepted,  notwith- 
standing an  unfeigned  reluctance  on  Edwards' 
j^art  to  abandon  a  retirement  so  fruitful  in  results, 
so  full  of  promise  for  the  future.  A  council  was 
called,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Congrega- 
tional churches,  which,  having  listened  to  a  pres- 
entation of  the  case,  decided  that  it  was  his  duty  to 
take  the  presidency  of  the  college.  When  this  de- 
cision was  announced,  it  is  said  that  Edwards  fell 
into  tears,  a  thing  unusual  for  him  in  the  presence 
of  others.  Leaving  his  family  behind  him,  he  set 
out  for  Princeton  in  the  month  of  January,  1758. 
There  he  was  awaited  by  his  daughter  Esther,  in 
the  freshness  of  her  great  sorrow,  and  by  another 
daughter,  Lucy,  who  remained  unmarried.  Hardly 
had  he  reached  his  destination  when  he  learned  of 
the  death  of  his  aged  father.  For  several  successive 
Sundays  he  preached  in  the  college  hall,  but  the 

1  Cf .  History  of  Redemption,  pp.  556.  Tliis  treatise  of  Edwards 
is  composed  of  a  series  of  sermons  preached  iu  1739.  It  may  be 
taken  as  the  first  rough  draft  of  his  projected  work,  and  as  indicat- 
ing his  method.  It  was  first  published  in  Edinburgh,  1777.  It 
has  been  one  of  the  most  widely  read  of  Edwards'  writings,  as  if 
it  had  taken  the  place  with  his  readers  which  his  magnum  opus 
was  intended  to  fill.  It  adds  little,  however,  to  Edwards'  thought 
beyond  what  has  been  already  given. 


382  CONCLUSION. 

only  work  which  he  undertook  as  president  was  to 
give  out  "  questions  in  divinity  "  to  the  senior  class. 
When  the  students  came  to  meet  him  with  their 
answers,  he  is  said  to  have  impressed  them  all  with 
satisfaction  and  with  wonder.  Aa  a  preacher  also 
he  appeared  full  of  interest  and  power,  as  he  had 
done  in  the  early  years  of  his  ministry. 

At  the  time  when  Edwards  reached  Princeton 
the  community  were  in  a  state  of  alarm  over  the 
spread  of  the  small-pox  in  the  village  and  its  vicin- 
ity. As  Edwards  had  not  had  the  disease,  the 
situation  seemed  to  justify  in  his  case  the  preven- 
tive treatment  known  as  inoculation,  in  the  hope 
of  preserving  a  life  so  dear  and  valuable.  The 
objections  to  the  practice  had  growTi  weaker  in  the 
course  of  years  ;  it  was  also  said  to  have  been  at- 
tended with  good  results  under  the  skilful  direc- 
tion of  the  physicians  at  Princeton.  Edwards  him- 
self proposed  its  trial,  and  the  corporation  of  the 
college  consented.  He  was  inoculated  on  the  13th 
of  February,  and  so  successfully  that  for  a  while 
it  was  believed  that  the  danger  in  his  case  was 
over.  But  the  hope  was  a  delusive  one,  and  the 
end  was  near.  As  he  lay  dying,  aware  that  his 
time  was  short,  his  thoughts  reverted  to  the  chil- 
dren who  were  to  be  fatherless,  and  more  particu- 
larly to  the  absent  wife  in  the  distant  home  at 
Stockbridge.  "  Tell  her,"  he  said  to  his  daughter, 
who  took  down  his  words,  "  that  the  uncommon 
union  which  has  so  long  subsisted  between  us  has 
been  of  such  a  nature  as  I  trust  is   spiritual,  and 


DEATH.  383 

therefore  will  continue  forever."  After  this,  when 
he  seemed  insensible  and  those  around  him  were 
already  lamenting  his  departure,  he  spoke  once 
more  :  "  Trust  in  God  and  ye  need  not  fear." 
His  death  took  place  on  the  22d  of  March,  1758, 
in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  Only  sixteen 
days  afterwards  his  daughter  Esther  followed  him 
out  of  the  world.  Nor  did  Mrs.  Edwards  long 
survive.  In  September  of  the  same  year,  she  died 
at  Philadelphia,  where  she  had  gone  by  way  of 
Princeton  to  assume  the  charge  of  her  infant 
grandchildren.  In  the  graveyard  at  Princeton 
they  rest  together  who  were  lovely  and  pleasant 
in  their  lives,  and  in  their  deaths  were  not  divided. 
The  letters  which  passed  among  the  sorrowing 
members  of  the  family,  beginning  with  the  death 
of  Mr.  Burr,  are  still  preserved.  They  are  filled 
with  utterances  of  resignation  to  the  will  of  God, 
but  beneath  these  expressions  of  religious  faith 
there  is  seen  the  intensity  of  human  feeling  and 
of  deep,  unspeakable  anguish.  The  devotion  of 
human  souls  to  each  other  is  there,  though  veiled 
beneath  a  deep  reserve.  They  had  been  schooled 
to  an  almost  Stoical  repression  of  the  natural  emo- 
tions. They  had  dissevered  their  ideal  from  earth 
as  too  vast  and  exalted  to  be  realized  in  this  lower 
sphere.  Their  eyes  were  fastened  upon  a  revela- 
tion of  heaven  to  the  world.  Even  when  he  was  a 
boy  working  out  the  theory  of  the  outward  world 
as  ideal  or  immaterial,  Edwards  had  noted,  as  if 
with  a  feeling  of  triumph,  that  such  a  doctrine  did 


384  CONCL  USION, 

not  disturb  the  conception  of  heaven  as  the  place 
where  God  resides.  Later  in  life  he  again  ex- 
pressed himself  in  similar  fashion  :  — 

"  God  considered  with  respect  to  His  essence  is  every- 
where :  He  fills  both  heaven  and  earth.  But  yet  He  is 
said  in  some  respects  to  be  more  especially  in  some 
places  than  in  others.  .  .  .  Heaven  is  His  dwelling- 
place  above  all  other  places  in  the  universe  ;  and  all 
those  places  in  which  He  was  said  to  dwell  of  old,  were 
but  types  of  this.  Heaven  is  a  part  of  His  creation  that 
God  has  built  for  this  end,  to  be  the  place  of  His  glo- 
rious presence  ;  and  here  He  will  dwell  and  gloriously 
manifest  Himself  to  all  eternity. 

"  All  the  truly  great  and  good,  all  the  pure  and  holy 
and  excellent  from  this  world,  and  it  may  be  from  every 
part  of  the  universe,  are  constantly  tending  toward 
heaven.  As  the  streams  tend  to  the  ocean,  so  all  these 
are  tending  to  the  great  ocean  of  infinite  purity  and 
bhss."  1 

Over  the  grave  of  Edwards  the  trustees  of  the 
college  erected  a  marble  monument,  with  a  Latin 
inscription  which  speaks  of  him  as  second  to  no 
mortal  man,  who  as  a  theologian  has  scarce  had 
his  equal.  Other  eulogies  might  be  mentioned 
which  seem  to  vie  with  each  other  in  expressing 
the  highest  admiration  which  it  is  lawful  to  utter. 
"From  the  days  of  Plato,"  says  a  writer  in  the 
Westminster  Review,  "  there  has  been  no  life  of 
more  simple  and  imposing  grandeur  than  that  of 
Jonathan  Edwards."    "  I  regard  him,"  said  Robert 

1  Charity  and  its  Fruits,  pp.  467,  474. 


TESTIMONIES   TO  HIS   GREATNESS.  385 

Hall,  who  knew  liim  only  by  liis  books,  "  as  the 
greatest  of  the  sons  of  men."  An  eminent  Puritan 
divine,  who  had  seen  his  face  when  illimiined  with 
the  divine  communion,  remarked  that  "  he  was  ac- 
customed to  look  upon  him  as  belonging  to  some 
superior  race  of  beings."  "  I  have  long  esteemed 
him,"  said  Dr.  Chalmers,  "  as  the  greatest  of  theo- 
logians, combining  in  a  degree  that  is  quite  unex- 
ampled the  profoundly  intellectual  with  the  de- 
votedly spiritual  and  sacred,  and  realizing  in  his 
own  person  a  most  rare  yet  most  beautifid-  har- 
mony between  the  simplicity  of  the  Christian 
pastor  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  all  the 
strength  and  prowess  of  a  giant  in  philosophy."  ^ 
Edwards  lived  in  an  age  when  such  impressions 
could  be  more  easily  produced  than  in  our  own, 
when  the  life  was  less  complex,  and  the  individual 
coidd  play  a  larger  role.  Among  the  great  names 
in  America  of  the  last  century,  the  only  other  which 
competes  in  celebrity  with  his  own  is  that  of  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  who  labored  for  this  world  as 
assiduously  as  Edwards  for  another  world.  The 
memorial  window  in  Edwards'  honor  in  the  chapel 

^  In  contrast  -with  these  testimonies  is  the  judgment  of  Presi- 
dent Stiles,  of  Yale  College,  who  had  a  reputation  in  his  day  for 
learning  and  polite  culture,  as  well  as  a  gift  for  discerning  the 
foibles  of  his  contemporaries.  President  Stiles  condemned  Ed- 
wards to  oblivion.  In  his  Diary  for  August  7,  1787,  he  wrote  : 
"When  posterity  occasionally  comes  across  his  writings  in  the 
rubbish  of  libraries,  the  rare  characters  who  may  read  and  be 
pleased  with  them  will  be  looked  upon  as  singular  and  whim- 
sical as  in  these  days  are  admirers  of  Suarez,  Aquinas,  or  Dion. 
Areopagita. ' ' 


386  CONCLUSION. 

of  Yale  College,  where  lie  had  studied  and  taught, 
contains  an  inscription  revealing  the  secret  of  the 
homage  which  men  have  agreed  to  render,  even 
though  differing  as  widely  as  heaven  from  earth 
about  the  theology  which  is  identified  with  his 
name.  "  lonathan  Edwards  summi  in  ecdesia 
ordinis  vatesj^uit,  reruni  sacrum  'philosophiis  qui 
scecidorum  admirationem  movet^  Dei  cultor  riiys- 
tice  amantissimus.^^  There  was  in  him  something 
of  the  seer  or  prophet  who  beholds  by  direct  vis- 
ion tv^hat  others  know  only  by  report.  We  may 
apply  to  him  his  own  words :  there  was  in  him 
"  a  divine  and  supernatural  light,"  which  is  seen 
but  rarely  among  the  generations  that  come  and 
go.  When  such  a  light  appears,  it  does  not  shine 
for  a  moment  only  or  for  a  few :  it  casts  its  beams 
to  a  distance,  illuminating  the  ages.  He  was  like 
a  star,  says  a  recent  writer,  throwing  its  light  afar 
off,  —  ein  weithin  leuchtendes  Gestirn. 

The  divine  revelation,  as  it  came  through  him 
as  its  vehicle,  was  associated  with  much  that  was 
untrue.  If  we  can  make  allowance  for  the  human 
equation  in  his  teaching,  for  the  reasoning  which 
however  solid  or  true  was  based  upon  false  prem- 
ises, if  we  can  look  at  the  negative  side  of  his  the- 
ology as  the  local  and  transitory  element  of  his 
time,  there  will  then  remain  an  imperishable  ele- 
ment which  points  to  the  reality  of  the  divine 
existence,  and  of  the  revelation  of  God  to  the 
world,  as  no  external  evidence  can  do.  Indeed,  it 
is  only  by  exposing  what  was  false  or  distorted  in 


MAURICE'S  ESTIMATE.  387 

his  theology  that  the  real  man  stands  forth  in  the 
gi-andeur  of  his  proportions.  It  is  impossible  to 
allude  here  to  his  influence  upon  the  later  history 
of  religious  life  and  thought  in  New  England.  If 
the  sketch  which  has  been  given  of  his  work  be 
true,  he  did  not  do  for  the  old  theology  what  he 
attempted  or  desired.  It  was  his  aim  to  rational- 
ize it,  but  at  every  point,  under  his  transcendental 
touch,  it  threatened  to  expand  into  something  very 
unlike  the  original.  He  has  had  his  children  ac- 
cording to  the  letter  of  his  teaching ;  but  those 
who  have  also  protested  most  loudly  against  his 
errors  may  be  also  his  children  after  the  spirit. 
Among  these  may  be  counted  the  late  Mr.  Mau- 
rice, who  was  at  one  with  Edwards  in  that  which 
constitutes  his  essential  quality  as  a  prophet,  after 
all  that  is  unworthy  has  been  eliminated  from  his 
message.  How  deeply  Maurice  recognized  his 
worth  may  be  seen  from  the  following  estimate, 
given  in  his  History  of  Philosophy  :  — 

"  In  his  own  country  he  retains  and  always  must  re- 
tain a  great  power.  We  should  imagine  that  all  Amer- 
ican theology  and  philosophy,  whatever  changes  it  may 
undergo,  with  whatever  foreign  elements  it  may  be  asso- 
ciated, must  be  cast  in  his  mould.  New  Englanders 
who  try  to  substitute  Berkeley,  or  Butler,  or  Male- 
branche,  or  Cardillac,  or  Kant,  or  Hegel  for  Edwards,  or 
to  form  their  minds  upon  any  of  them,  must  be  forcing 
themselves  into  an  unnatural  position,  and  must  suffer 
from  the  effort.  On  the  contrary,  if  they  accept  the 
starting-point  of  their  native  teacher  and  seriously  con- 


388  CONCLUSION. 

sider  what  is  necessary  to  make  that  teacher  consistent 
with  himself,  —  what  is  necessary  that  the  divine  foun- 
dation upon  which  he  wished  to  build  may  not  be  too 
weak  and  narrow  for  any  human  or  social  life  to  rest 
upon  it,  —  we  should  expect  great  and  fruitful  results 
from  their  inquiries  to  the  land  which  they  must  care 
for  most,  and  therefore  to  mankind." 

The  great  wrong  which  Edwards  did,  which 
haunts  us  as  an  evil  dream  throughout  his  writings, 
was  to  assert  God  at  the  expense  of  humanity. 
Where  man  should  be,  there  is  only  a  fearful  void. 
The  protests  which  he  has  evoked  have  proclaimed 
the  divineness  of  human  nature,  the  actuality  of 
the  redemption  in  Christ  for  all  the  world.  Only 
in  the  intense  light  which  he  threw  could  the  ne- 
cessity for  these  protests  have  been  so  clearly  per- 
ceived. But  those  who  have  made  them  are  more 
closely  related  to  him  in  spirit  than  they  are 
aware  or  may  be  willing  to  admit.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  he  is  the  forerunner  of  the  later 
New  England  trancendentalism  quite  as  truly  as 
the  author  of  a  modified  Calvinism.  All  who  ac- 
cept the  truth,  that  divine  things  are  known  to  be 
divine  because  humanity  is  endowed  wdth  the  gift 
of  direct  vision  into  divinity,  are  accepting  what 
Edwards  proclaimed,  what  constitutes  the  positive 
feature  of  his  theology.  There  are  those  who 
have  made  the  transition  from  the  old  Calvinism, 
through  the  mediation  of  this  principle,  to  a  larger 
theology  as  if  by  a  natural  process.  Among  these 
typical   thinkers  were  Thomas  Erskine,  McLeod 


TRANSITION  TO  A  LARGER  THEOLOGY.      389 

Campbell,  and  Bishop  Ewing,  in  Scotland,  or  the 
late  Mr.  Maurice  in  England.  These  and  such  as 
these,  in  whom  the  God-consciousness  is  supreme, 
are  the  true  continuators  of  the  work  of  Jonathan 
Edwards. 


1 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


The  first  edition  of  Edwards'  works  was  published  in  Worces- 
ter, Mass.,  in  8  vols.,  1809  ;  aftem^ards  republished  in  4  vols.  It 
is  still  in  print,  the  plates  being  owned,  it  is  said,  by  Carter 
Bros.,  New  York.  Dr.  Dwig-ht's  edition  was  published  in  New 
York  in  1829,  in  10  vols.,  the  first  volume  being  occupied  with 
the  life  There  is  a  London  edition  in  8  vols,  by  Williams,  1817; 
vols.  9  and  10  supplementary  by  Ogle,  Edinburgh,  1847.  Another 
London  edition  in  2  vols.,  bearing  the  imprint  of  Bohn,  is  still  in 
print,  and  though  cumbrous  in  forna  is  in  many  respects  excel- 
lent. It  possesses  the  only  portrait  of  Edwards  which  answers  to 
one's  idea  of  the  man. 

Articles  on  Edwards  may  be  found  in  the  collections  of  Alli- 
bone,  Duyckinck,  Griswold,  Richardson,  and  Sprague.  The  ref- 
erences in  Ueberweg's  His.  Phil.  Am.  Tr.,  and  Hagenbach's  His. 
Doc,  are  valuable.  The  follo^ving  list  embraces  some  of  the 
more  important  contributions  elucidating  the  thought  of  Edwards 
or  bearing  witness  to  its  influence. 

Atwater,  L.  H.,  Edwards  and  the  New  Divinity ,  Princ.  Rev., 
30,  58." , 

Bancroft,  George,  Art.  in  Appleton's  Amer.  Cyc.^  1st  ed.,  also 
His.  of  the  U.  S.,  vols.  iii.  and  iv. 

Campbell,  J.  McLeod,  on  The  Nature  of  the  Atonement. 

Chalmers,  Thomas,  Christian  and  Civic  Economy  of  Large 
Towns,  Works,  i.  318-322. 

Channing,  W.  H.,  Edwards  and  the  Revivalists,  Cliris.  Exam., 
43,  74. 

Edwards,  Tryon,  Review  of  Charity  and  its  Fruits,  New  Eng., 
10,  222  :   contains  an  account  of  Edwards'  MS. 

Fisher,  G.  P.,  Discussions  in  History  and  Philosophy,  pp.  227- 
252,  and  His.  of  the  Chris.  Ch.,  chap.  viii. 


392  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Frazer,  A.  C,  Berkeley  in  Blackwood's  Philosophical  Classics, 
pp.  138-141,  also  in  edition  of  Berkeley's  Works. 

Gillett,  E.  H.,  on  Edwards'  Dismissal  from  Northampton,  His. 
Mag.,  11,  333. 

Godwin,  W.,  Inquiry  concerning  Political  Justice,  vol.  i.  301. 
Am.  ed.     Philadelphia,  1796. 

Gros^art,  A.  B.,  Introd.  to  Selections  from  the  Unpublished  Writ- 
ings of  Edwards. 

Hall,  Robert,  Works.     Bohn  ed.,  p.  284. 

Hazard,  Roland  G.,  Review  of  Edwards  on  the  Will. 

Hodge,  Charles,  Bib.  Hep.  and  Princeton  Rev.,  v.  30,  p.  585, 
claims  Edwards  for  the  old  theology  of  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion. * 

Holmes,  O.  W.,  in  Sketches  and  Reminiscences  of  the  Radical 
Club,  pp.  362-375,  and  Internat.  Rev.,  July,  1880. 

Hopkins,  Samuel,  Memoir  of  Edwards,  —  a  work  which  has  the 
quaint  charm  of  Walton's  Lives. 

Huxley,  T.  F.,  Art.  Edwards,  Encyc.  Brit.,  9th  ed. 

Lyon,  G.,  L'Ide'alisme  en  Angleterre  au  XVIII^  Siecle,  pp.  406- 
439. 

Mackintosh,  J.,  Progress  of  Ethical  Philosophy,  Philadelphia, 
1834,  p.  108. 

Magoun,  G.  F.,  Edwards  as  a  Reformer,  Cong.  Qu.,  11,  259. 

Maurice,  F.  D.,  His.  of  Mod.  Phil,  pp.  469-475. 

Miller,  Samuel,  Life  of  Edwards,  vol-  viii.,  Sparks'  Am.  Biog. 

Osgood,  Samuel,  Studies  in  Christian  Biography,  pp.  348-377. 

Park,  E.  A.,  Edwards^  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  Bib.  Sac,  Jan. 
and  Apr.  1881 ;  Articles  in  Bib.  Sac.  defending  Edwards  against 
the  claims  of  Presbyterianism ;  The  Atonement,  etc. ;  allusions  to 
in  Memoirs  of  Hopkins  and  Emmons. 

Parton,  J.,  Life  of  Aaron  Burr. 

Porter,  Noah,  Edwards^  Peculiarity  as  a  Theologian,  New  Eng., 
18,  737.     Historical  Discourse,  on  Bp.  Berkeley,  1885. 

Rogers,  Henry,  Introduction  to  Bohn  ed.  of  Edwards'  Works. 

Smith,  H.  B.,  allusions  to,  in  Faith  and  Philosophy  ;  also  His. 
of  the  Church,  in  Chronological  Tables. 

Smythe,  E.  C,  Appendix  to  Edwards'  Observations  concerning 
the  Trinity. 

Stephen,  Leslie,  Kssay  on,  in  Hours  in  a  Library^  ii.  pp.  44- 
106. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  393 

Stewaxt,  Dugald,  Dissertation  on  the  Progress  of  Philosophy, 
p.  203,  ed.  1820. 

Stowe,  C.  E.,  Art.  Edwards  in  Herzog's  Real-Encyclopddie. 

Strong,  A.  H.,  on  the  influence  of  Edwards  on  the  "New  Theol- 
ogy," in  Philosophy  and  Religion,  p.  167,  with  other  allusions, 
also,  in  his  Systematic  Theology. 

Tarbox,  I.  N.,  Edwards  and  the  Half-way  Covenant,  and  Ed- 
wards as  a  Man,  New  Eng.,  vol.  43. 

Taylor,  Isaac,  Introduction  to  his  ed.  of  Edwards  on  The  Will. 

ITiompson,  J.  P.,  on  Edwards'  theology.  Bib.  Sac,  18,  809. 

Tracy,  J.,  His.  of  the  Bemval  in  the  Time  of  Edwards  and 
Whitefield. 

Trumbull,  His.  of  Conn. 

Tyler,  M.  C,  His.  of  Am.  Lit. 

Uhden,  The  New  England  Theocracy,  chap.  ix. 

Woolsey,  T.,  Historical  Discourse,  1870,  at  the  reunion  of  the 
Edwards'  family. 


1 


INDEX. 


Adam,  effects  of  his  fall,  72,  101,  103, 
304;  lacked  freedom,  iii  the  seuse 
of  power  to  the  contrary,  304  ;  per- 
sonality of,  305  ;  every  man  iden- 
tical with,  308-310. 

Alexander,  J.  W.,  describes  effect  of 
Edwards'  preaching,  128,  note. 

Anselm,  Edwards'  resemblance  to, 
81 ;  his  doctrine  of  atonement,  89 ; 
on  freedom  of  the  will,  301. 

Arminiauism,  Edwards'  opposition  to, 
'  58,  81,  82,  94,  103,  106,  221,  228,  282, 
328  ;  its  view  of  freedom.  111,  282, 
301 ;  in  the  revival,  182  ;  conception 
of  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
200  ft' ;  makes  the  happiness  of  the 
creature  the  end  of  tlie  creation, 
328. 

Asceticism,  Traces  of,  in  Diary,  32, 
^33. 
^thanasius,  his  theology,  353,  372 ;  on 

'  'the  Incarnation,  358. 

Atonement,  the  doctrine  of,  wanting 
in  Mohammedanism,  88 ;  Edwards' 
conception  of,  90-92,  146,  352. 

Augustine,  his  idea  of  God,  20,  297 ; 
abandonment  of  philosophy,  21 ; 
conception  of  God,  37 ;  celibate 
ideal  of,  44 ;  on  predestination,  64  ; 
on  freedom,  73 ;    connection  with 

''monasticism,  163 ;  idea  of  the 
churcli,  269 ;  on  real  freedom  as  re- 
lated to  necessity,  301 ;  on  grace, 
360. 

Baptism,  Edwards'  view  of,  265; 
difference  of  opinion  in  regard  to, 
266,  268. 

Beardsley,  E.  E.,  on  the  influence  of 
Berkeleyism  at  Yale  College,  16. 

Berkeley,  Edwards'  coincidence  with, 
14 ;  whether  Edwards  had  read  his 
writings,  15;  relation  of,  to  John- 
eon,  16 ;  how  he  differs  from  Ed- 
wards, 17,  note ;  lat^  relation  of 
Edwards  to  the  philosophy  of,  60, 
61,  110,  308,  309 ;  Edwards'  modifi- 


cation of  the  principle  of,  134,  308, 
371 ;  combated  by  Ramsay,  347. 

Boston,  Edwards'  sermon  at,  on  De- 
I>endence,  55. 

Brainerd,  David,  first  meeting  with 
Edwards,  243 ;  becomes  an  inmate 
of  Edwards'  house,  245 ;  quotation 
from  Edwards  on  his  religious  life, 
321. 

Buddhism,  essential  principle  of,  con- 
trasted with  Edwards'  ruling  idea 
of  being,  7.  ^ 

Burr,  Aaron,  intercedes  for  Brainerd,      * 
244 ;  marriage  with  Esther  Edwards, 
276 ;  death,  378. 

Burr,  Aaron,  grandson  of  Edwards, 
277. 

Bushnell,  Dr.  Horace,  calls  attention 
to  Edwards'  unpublished  essay  on 
the  Trinity,  341,  344,  372. 

Butler,  Bishop,  111,  187. 

Calvin,  on  predestination,  64;  denial 
of  human  freedom,  73 ;  view  of 
Scripture,  135 ;  his  doctrine  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  135 ;  his  consistency  in 
holding  to  his  denial  of  the  freedom 
of  the  will,  294,  295 ;  freedom  in 
necessity,  301 ;  quoted  on  the  Trin- 
ity, 353. 

Calvinism,  contradiction  in,  79 ;  old 
and  new  schools  of,  80 ;  objections 
urged  against,  86;  the  opposite  ex- 
treme from  Romanism,  114 ;  its 
doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  135; 
its  idea  of  God,  291. 

Campbell,  J.  McLeod,  indebtedness 
to  Edwards  on  the  Atonement,  91. 

Chalmers,  Dr.  Thomas,  his  admira- 
tion for  Edwards,  46,  385  ;  his  opin- 
ion of  the  Freedom  of  the  Will, 
285. 

Chauncy,  Charles,  opposes  the  revival, 
181,  208,  209. 

Christ,  relation  of  believers  to,  96-100 ; 
tendency  to  denial  of  His  divinity, 
98;  relation  of,  to  the  creation,  99, 


396 


INDEX. 


103,  355,  356 ;  the  mystical  or  spirit- 
ual, 190,  2iJ4;  God  as  existing  for, 
336. 

Church  and  State,  readjustment  of 
their  relation  called  for,  55 ;  Wyc- 
litfe's  view  of  their  relation,  55 ; 
Edwards'  attitude  on,  56,  254,  2G9. 

Clap,  Rev.  Mr.,  Rector  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, 180,  280. 

Coleridge,  conception  of  miraclt,  66 ; 
on  the  freedom  of  the  will,  300. 

Collins,  John  Anthony,  his  doctrine 
of  freedom  and  necessity  resembles 
Edwards'  view,  288,  ndte. 

Congregationalism,  Edwards  the  fa- 
ther of  the  modern  form  of,  270 ; 
his  strictness  on  its  polity,  271,  2T2. 

Conscience,  does  not  belong  in  the 
sphere  of  the  supernatural,  66,  323, 
324. 

Conversion,  hints  relating  to,  in  Diary, 
etc.,  35,  36  ;  nature  of,  in  Edwards' 
case,  37, 38  ;  foundation  of  Edwards' 
doctrine  of,  134 ;  process  of,  de- 
scribed, 144 ;  tragic  element  inj  144, 
148;  realization  of  dependence  on 
God,  146 ;  uncertainty  of  divine  love, 
148  ;  joyful  experience  following 
after  the  legal  phase  of,  149 ;  phys- 
ical accomipaniments  of,  154,  164, 
167  ;  relation  of,  to  morality, 
155  ff,  231  ;  signs  of,  221-225 ;  re- 
sults of  the  acceptance  of  the  idea 
of,  251,  264,  265. 

Cutler,  and  others,  secession  of,  to 
Episcopal  church,  24. 

Deism,  Edwards'  relation  to,  58,  336. 

DWight,  S.  E.,  Life  of  Edwards,  6, 
note ;  arrangement  of  the  Notes 
on  the  Mind,  11 ;  opinion  in  regard 
to  Edwards'  knowledge  of  Berkeley, 
15,  16 ;  on  Mrs.  Edwards'  portrait, 
45. 

Edwards,  Esther,  her  marriage  to 
Rev.  Aaron  Burr,  276,  277 ;  died  at 
Princeton,  383. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  birth,  ancestry, 
1 ;  his  father,  2  ;  his  mother,  2,  3 ; 
character  as  a  child,  3 ;  enters  Yale 
College,  4 ;  his  manuscript  notes, 
4 ;  influence  of  Locke,  5  ;  Notes  on 
the  Mind,  5,  282,  288,  314;  the 
theological  element  predominant, 
6 ;  on  the  nature  of  excellence,  6 ; 
his  fundamental  principle  contrasted 
with  Buddhism,  7  ;  relation  of  great- 
ness of  God  to  His  excellence,  9; 
genial  outlook  of  his  youth,  10,  11 ; 
resemblance  to  Spinoza  and  Male- 
branche,   12;    transition    to   philo- 


sophic idealism,  13 ;  coincidence  in 
his  thought  with  Berkeley,  1,  4 ; 
explanation  of  this  coincidence,  15- 
20 ;  pushes  the  doctrine  of  idealism 
beyond  Berkeley,  18 ;  Spinoza  and 
Augustine,  the  poles  of  his  thought, 
21  ;  early  religious  impressions,  22  ; 
residence  at  New  Haven  after  grad- 
uation, in  charge  of  a  Presbyterian 
church  in  New  York,  tutor  at  Yale, 
23;  Diary  and  Resolutions,  24  ff ; 
mystic  raptures,  25;  moral  ideal, 
27  ff  ;  spiritual  ambition,  30  ;  ascetic 
tendency,  32  ;  early  view  of  the  free 
dom  of  the  will,  33 ;  sense  of  sin, 
not  deep  in  early  experience,  34 ; 
references  to  conversion,  in  Diary, 
etc. ,  35 ;  uncertainty  as  to  his 
own  conversion,  36 ;  repugnance  to 
Calvinistic  doctrine  of  sovereignty, 

37  ;  the  intellectual  revolution,  37, 

38  ;  ordination  at  Northampton,  39  ; 
personal  appearance,  41 ;  methods 
as  a  student  and  preacher,  42, 43  ; 
his  description  of  his  wife  while  a 
yovmg  girl,  46 ;  his  marriage,  47  ; 
domestic  life,  48,  49  ;  advantage  ta» 
from  association  with  Mr.  StoddaroP 
51  ;  reverses  the  principle  of  Wyc- 
liffe  regarding  church  and  state, 
56,  254  ;  preaches  the  public  lecture 
in  Boston,  56 ;  opposes  Arminian- 
ism,  58;  asserts  the  divine  .sov- 
ereignty, 59-64 ;  conception  of  the 
supernatural,  65,  66 ;  sermon  on 
Supernatural  Light,  67,  229  ;  how 
he  modified  the  earlier  Calvinism, 
80 ;  defends  the  doctrine  of  endless 
punishment,  82-87  ;  accepts  the  An- 
selmic  doctrine  gf  atonement,  89; 
suggests  a  possible  departure  from 
Anselm,  91 ;  his  sermon  on  Justifi- 
cation by  Faith,  92-96 ;  refuses  to 
define  the  unio  mystica,  97,  100; 
description  of,  as  a  preacher,  104, 
105 ;  sermon  on  the  Importance  of 
a  knowledge  of  Divine  Faith,  106- 
108  ;  sermon  on  Pressing  into  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  109 ;  his  method 
of  appealing  to  the  will,  110  ; 
his  imprecatory  sermons,  116  ; 
preaches  at  Enfield,  127-129 ;  con- 
tinuation of  his  personal  narrative, 
130 ;  sense  of  his  own  sinfulness,  131 ; 
his  preaching  leads  to  the  first  revi- 
val at  Northampton,  133  ;  Narrative 
of  Surprising  Conversions,  138-159 ; 
studying  the  phases  of  the  revi- 
val, 143  ;  as  a  religious  director,  149, 
151 ;  attaches  practical  importance 
to  morality,  156 ;  how  he  regarded 
the  first  revival,  161 ;  describes  the 


INDEX. 


397 


Great  Awakening  at  Northampton, 
IGl  ff ;  Distinguishing  Marks  of  a 
Work  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  1G2  ;  ap- 
proves of  the  physical  manifestations 
of  the  revival,  1G4,  167,  193,  2'21  ; 
resists  impulses  and  impressions, 
170,  203-209  ;  asserts  importance  of 
theologfeal  culture  in  the  minis- 
try, 175,  211 ;  condemns  ceusori- 
ousness,  174,  216 ;  publishes  his 
Thoughts  on  the  Revival,  183 ;  de- 
fends the  revival,  184-195 ;  approves 
the  new  method  of  preaching,  188  ; 
his  metliod  in  the  case  of  children, 
191 ;  statement  of  his  wife's  expe- 
rience, 198-202  ;  discusses  the  ques- 
tion of  itinerant  preacliers  and  lay 
exhorters,  209-212  ;  asserts  necessity 
of  church  order,  213 ;  publishes  Reli- 
gious Affections,  218  ;  treats  of  signs 
of  conversion,  221 ;  in  what  the 
reality  of  the  spiritual  life  consists, 
223 ;  publishes  Union  in  Prayer, 
232  ;  gives  a  picture  of  his  time, 
238,  239 ;  condemns  the  prevailing 
idea  of  the  coming  of  Antichrist, 
240  ;  condemns  the  Christian  Tear, 
241 ;  desires  more  frequent  celebra- 
tions of  the  Lord's  Supper,  242 ;  liis 
meeting  with  David  Brainerd,  243  ; 
his  dismissal  from  Northampton, 
248-272  ;  effect  of  his  teaching  on 
relation  between  church  and  state, 
254 ;  opposes  tlie  Hxlf-way  Cove- 
nant, 258,  270 ;  involved  in  a  case 
of  discipline  at  Northampton,  259  ; 
his  treatise  on  the  Qualifications 
of  Full  Communion,  2G0,  263,  268 ; 
preaches  his  farewell  sermon,  262  ; 
controversy  on  Jibe,  nature  of  the 
church,  in  reply  to  Williams,  268, 
269  ;  beconies  the  father  of  modern 
Congregationalism,  270 ;  his  stric- 
tures on  its  church  polity,  271 ;  his 
removal  to  Stockbridge,  273;  his 
controversy  with  Williams,  274 ; 
receives  an  apology  from  Major 
Hawley,  275 ;  his  relation  to  the 
Indians  at  Stockbridge,  278-281; 
writes  the  Freedom  of  the  Will, 
281 ;  the  treatise  makes  a  literary 
sensation,  283  ;  marks  the  culmina- 
tion of  a  reaction,  284;  testimony 
of  its  admirers,  285,  280 ;  possesses 
historical  importance,  287 ;  am- 
biguity in  his  use  of  the  word 
"  choice,"  288  ;  his  agreement  with 
the  physical  school,  288,  289 ;  as- 
sumes the  thing  to  be  proved,  289  ;• 
depends  chiefly  on  the  religious  ar- 
gument, 290,  291 ;  the  popular  in- 
ference from  Edwards'  argument, 


292,  293 ;  how  he  discriminated  his 
position  from  tliat  of  the  necessita- 
rians, 293-296 ;  his  definition  of 
freedom,  294,  295 ;  how  regarded 
by  Calvin,  295  ;  significance  of  Ed- 
wards' uistinction  in  later  New 
England  thought,  296;  denies  that 
God  possesses  freedom  in  the  sense 
of  power  to  the  contrary,  297  ;  de- 
fects of  treatise  on  the  Will,  299 ; 
religious  aspect  of  denial  of  free- 
dom, 301 ;  wrote  his  treatise  on 
Original  Sin,  303,  313 ;  its  connec- 
tion with  his  work  on  the  Will,  303  ; 
denies  the  self-determining  power 
of  the  will  in  the  case  of  Adam, 
304 ;  makes  God  the  author  of  sin, 
305 ;  defends  the  doctrine  of  origi- 
nal sin  by  a  metaphysical  argument 
on  the  nature  of  identity,  308-310 ; 
natural  deduction  from  his  prem- 
ises, 310 ;  unethical  conception  of 
sin,  311 ;  the  fallacy  in  Edwards' 
argument,  312 ;  treatise  on  the  Na- 
ture of  True  Virtue,  313-327 ;  re- 
produces his  early  speculations  on 
the  nature  of  excellence,  314 ;  rev- 
erence for  being,  as  the  funda- 
mental ethical  principle,  315 ;  de- 
fect of  this  principle,  316,  317  ;  the 
love  of  God  for  his  moral  excel- 
lence, 318 ;  difficulties  in  the  iiater- 
pretation  of  his  thought,  319,  320 ; 
his  teaching  compared  with  that 
of  Spinoza,  320,  321  ;  how  he  dif- 
fers from  Spinoza,  322 ;  virtue  con- 
sists in  the  conscious  love  of  God, 
323 ;  action  of  the  natural  con- 
science, 324 ;  modem  reaction 
against  Edwards'  principle  of  eth- 
ics, 326  ;  his  treatise  on  the  End  of 
God  in  the  Creation,  327-338;  de- 
fines God  as  a  supremely  liappy 
being,  328 ;  how  God's  supreme 
love  for  Himself  is  reconciled  with 
His  love  for  the  creature,  329,  330 ; 
traces  of  Gnosticism  in  his  thought, 
331 ;  the  creation  exists  for  the 
elect,  332  ;  whether  the  creation  is 
eternal,  333  ;  on  the  phrase  "  God's 
name's  sake,"  334  ;  neglects  signifi- 
cance of  the  name  of  Christ,  335  ; 
his  speculations  result  in  confusion 
and  sense  of  failure,  337  ;  on  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  338-376 ; 
his  peculiarity  as  a  thinker,  338  ; 
voluminousness  of  his  manuscripts, 
339,  340  ;  call  for  his  unpublished 
essay  on  the  Trinity,  341-344  ;  reads 
Ramsay's  Philosophical  Principles, 
347  ff ;  why  he  was  attracted  to 
Ramsay,  348 ;   his  observations  on 


898 


INDEX. 


the  Scriptural  (Economy  of  the 
Trinity,  3o'2-354  ;  approximates  the 
Athanasian  statement  of  the  Trinity, 
353  ;  the  excellency  of  Christ  seen 
in  the  creation,  355  ;  his  Treatise  on 
Grace,  357-372 ;  Mr.  Grossart's  es- 
timate of,  357  ;  abandons  the  ethical 
principle  of  Treatise  on  Virtue,  358, 
359 ;  contradiction  in  his  theology, 
300  ;  identifies  grace  with  the  in- 
dwellmg  Spirit,  3G0,  3G1  ;  place  and 
oflSce  of  the  Spirit  in  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  Trinity  and  in  human 
redemption,  364,  3G5  ;  the  Spirit  de- 
fined as  love,  36G-368  ;  c'oequality 
of  the  Spirit  with  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  309  ;  participation  in  the 
divine  nature,  370 ;  disputes  the 
language  which  speaks  of  a  habit  of 
grace,  371 ;  the  missing  essay  on  the 
Trinity,  neither  Arian  or  Sabellian, 
but  Athanasian,  372  ;  defect  in  Ed- 
wards' doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  373- 
375  ;  decline  of  his  health,  377  ;  call 
to  Princeton,  378  ;  letter  to  the  trus- 
tees of  the  college,  379;  proposed 
to  write  a  History  of  Redemption, 
380  ;  departure  for  Princeton,  381  ; 
his  death,  383;  testimonies  to  Ed- 
wards as  a  man  and  a  theologian, 
384-386 ;  the  imperishable  element 
in  his  teaching,  Maurice's  estimate 
of,  387 ;  the  evil  element  in  his 
theology,  388 ;  his  relation  to  mod- 
ern theologians,  389. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  the  Younger, 
compared  with  his  father,  277 ; 
summary  of  "  improvements  in 
theology  "  made  by  his  father,  284, 
332,  301 ;  as  literary  executor  of  his 
father,  337. 

Edwards,  Sarah  Pierrepont,  her  an- 
cestry, beauty,  character,  etc.,  45; 
description  of  by  her  future  hus- 
band, 46 ;  marriage  to  Edwards,  47  ; 
management  of  her  family,  48,  49  ; 
her  place  in  the  revival,  197-203 ; 
admired  by  the  Indians  at  Stock- 
bridge,  279 ;  died  at  Philadelphia, 
383. 

Edwards,  Timothy,  sketch  of,  1,  2 ; 
revivals  in  his  parish,  137  ;  death, 
382. 

Edwards,  Tryon,  339,  342. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  PM wards'  affinity 
with,  68 ;  aphorisms  of,  on  evil  and 
punishment,  84,  note. 

Endless  punishment,  77, 78 ;  tendency 
to  denial  of,  81  ;  Edwards'  mode  of 
defending,  83,  84 ;  annihilation  or 
restoration,  etc.,  no  equivalents  for, 
121 ;  method  in  preaching,  121-124  ; 


the  great  majority  of  men  will  suf- 
fer, 125.  ^ 

Enfield,  Edwards'  sermon  at,  42^  127, 
218. 

Episcopal  Church,  secession  to  of  Cut- 
ler, Johnson,  and  others,  24  ;  how 
regarded  by  Edwards,  31  ;  affinity 
of  Mr.  Stoddard  with,  50 ;  its  wor- 
ship, 241  ;  doctrine  of  baptism,  268. 

Erskiue,  Dr.  John,  correspondence 
with  Edwards,  273,  293. 

Erskine,  Thomas,  of  Linlathen,  273, 
389. 

Fisher,  Prof.  George  P.,  D.  D.,  opin- 
ion that  Edwards  had  read  Berke- 
ley, 15,  16,  note ;  on  the  resem- 
blance between  Collins  and  Ed- 
wards, 288. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  386. 

Frazer,  A.  C,  on  Edwards'  indebted- 
ness to  Berkeley,  15. 

Gnosticism  in  Edwards'  thought,  331. 

God  (see  Sovereignty),  Edwards'  con- 
sciousness of,  6,  22,  25,  26 ;  excel- 
lence of,  8,  314,  318;  greatness  of, 
as  the  ground  of  His  excellence,  9, 
315;  as  the  one  substance,  12,  21, 
60 ;  relation  of  to  tlie  external 
world,  13,  14,  20,  309;  immanence 
of,  58,  64,  362 ;  providence  of,  33, 
34 ;  conceived  as  will,  59 ;  moral 
government  of,  78  ff;  justice  of, 
79,  84,  85,  120,  124,  147. 

Goethe,  the  principle  of  disinterested 
virtue,  321. 

Grace,  identified  with  divine  efficiency, 
64 ;  special  and  common  distin- 
guished, 65-75;  Edwards'  treatise 
on,  357-372  ;  not  impersonal,  3G0, 
361 ;  not  a  habit,  but  the  continu- 
ous infiuence  of  the  Spirit,  371. 

Great  Awakening,  extent  of,  161 ; 
Edwards'  account  of,  162 ;  abuses 
of,  163,  169,  170,  177,  188,  203  ff  ; 
opposition  to,  181 ;  Edwards'  de- 
fence of,  164,  184  ;  physical  accom- 
paniments of,  154,  164,  167,  193- 
196  ;  Mrs.  Edwards'  place  in,  197- 
203 ;  decline  of,  218,  234 ;  summary 
of  the  results  of,  249-256. 

Grossart,  Rev.  A.  B.,  results  of  ex- 
amination of  Edwards'  manuscripts, 
340,  341  ;  estimate  of  Edwards' 
treatise  on  Grace,  357. 

Half  -  way  Covenant,  weakened  the 
church,  55 ;  Edwards'  dislike  to, 
230,  257 ;  original  purpose  of,  55, 
257,  260  ;  rejection  of,  270. 

Hall,  Rev.  Robert,   criticism   of  Ed- 


INDEX. 


399 


wards'  ethical  principle,  318 ;  esti- 
mate of  Edwards'  character,  385. 

Harvard  College,  Timothy  Edwards, 
graduate  of,  1 ;  pronounces  against 
the  revival,  181  ;  library  of,  347. 

Hazard,  Rowland  G.,  comment  on 
Edwards'  Freedom  of  the  Will, 
286. 

Heaven,  as  a  locality,  384. 

Hobbes,  Thomas,  his  doctrine  of  ne- 
cessity, 288. 

Holmes,  Dr.  0.  W.,  calls  for  Edwards' 
Essay  on  the  Trinity,  343. 

Holy  Spirit,  importance  assigned  to, 
in  Calvinistic  churches,  135 ;  im- 
mediate influence  of,  152, 177, 204  tf, 
224,  360,  361 ;  as  causing  physical 
manifestations,  167,  193 ;  does  not 
inspire  impulses  and  impressions, 
203-209  ;  identified  with  grace,  301, 
362,  371  ;  defined  as  love,  365 ;  co- 
equality  of,  with  the  Father  and 
tlie  Son,  369. 

Hooker,  Thomas,  45. 

Hopkins,  Dr.  Samuel,  on  the  attrac- 
tiveness of  Mrs.  Edwards,  45;  un- 
certain of  his  conversion,  231 ;  op- 
position to  slavery,  250 ;  inferences 
from  Edwards'  doctrine  of  Vir- 
tue, 320,  321 ;  Edwards'  literary  ex- 
ecutor, 337  ;  on  the  Trinity,  352, 
note. 

Hume,  David,  law  of  association,  6 ; 
on  causation,  288,  289. 

Hutchinson,  History  of  Massachusetts, 
quoted  on  the  importance  of  the 
elders,  39 ;  belief  that  the  moral 
decline  in  the  churches  was  exag- 
gerated, 54. 

Impulses  and  impressions,  171,  203. 

Incarnation,  subordinated  to  Atone- 
ment, 89,  99 ;  dependent  on  divine 
sovereignty,  100 ;  significance  of, 
317,  318. 

Indians,  The,  their  opinion  of  Mr. 
Stoddard,  40;  in  Stockbridge,  278; 
Edwards'  relations  to,  279. 

Inspiration,  as  direct  insight,  12,  70, 
71  ;  the  gift  of,  inferior  to  saving 
grace,  172,  173,  205. 

Irving,  Edward,  174. 

Itinerant  preachers,  179,  209-211. 

Johnson,  Rev.  Samuel,  D.  D.,  ac- 
quaintance with  Berkeley,  relation 
to  Edwards,  16. 

Justification  by  faith,  Edwards'  modi- 
fication of,  93. 

Karnes,  Lord,  his  interpretation  of 
Edwards  on  the  Will,  293,  295. 


Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  comment  on  Ed- 
wards' treatise  on  Original  Sin,  312. 

Locke,  John,  influence  on  Edwards, 
5 ;  liis  principle  that  ideas  are  de- 
rived from  sensation,  13  ;  his  con- 
ception of  substance,  13  ;  Edwards' 
dependence  on,  61. 

Lord's  Supper,  Tlie,  regarded  as  a 
converting  ordinance,  50,  51,  257, 
258;  Edwards  desires  its  weekly 
celebration,  242 ;  Edwards'  opposi- 
tion to  the  practice  of  admitting 
unconverted  persons  to,  258,  259, 
263,  267. 

Luther,  religious  experience  of,  com- 
pared with  that  of  Edwards,  24,  34  ;  • 
lais  doctrine  of  justification,  95 ;  dis- 
like of  the  Zwickau  prophets,  178 ; 
conception  of  freedom,  301. 

Lyon,  Georges,  suggestion  that  Ed- 
wards may  be  indebted  to  Male- 
branche,  17  ;  he  suggests  the  possi- 
bility of  a  later  date  for  Notes  on 
the  Mind,  17  ;  Idealisme,  225,  note. 

Mackintosh,  Sir  James,  285. 
Malebranche,  Edwards'  approximation 

to,  12  ;  suggestion  that  Edwards  had 

read,  17. 
Mather,  Dr.  Increase,  in  controversy 

with  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  258. 
Maurice,  Rev.  F.  D.,  quoted,  315,  387, 

389. 
Methodism,  indebted  to  Puritanism, 

136;  how  it  differed  from  Puritan- 
ism, 212. 
Mill,  J.  S.,  on  causation,  6,  note;  on 

necessity,  289. 
Milton,  John,  76,  219,  364. 
Miracles,  Edwards'  conception  of,  65, 

m,  70,  229. 
Mohammedanism,   its    conception    of 

God's  sovereignty,  88. 
Mysticism,  marks  of,  25  ;  combination 

with  dialects,  81. 

Nature,  communion  with  God  through, 
132  ;  reflectine;  the  beauty  and  glory 
of  Christ,  355,'^  356. 

New  England,  ascetic  element  in  the 
people  of,  32  ;  conversion  as  known 
in  its  early  history,  36 ;  change  in 
the  constitution  of  its  churches,  56 ; 
intellectual  element  in  religion  of, 
106  ;  conscious  self-direction  of  the 
will,  in  its  religious  life,  112. 

Norris,  John,  Theory  of  an  ideal 
world,  17,  note. 

Northampton,  settlement  of,  39  ;  char- 
acter of  the  people  of,  40  ;  impor- 
tance of  the  church  of,  41  ;  connec- 
tion with   Boston,  43 ;    church  of, 


400 


INDEX. 


congratulated,  57  ;  excitement  over 
Ariiiuiiauisin,  82 ;  revival  iu  1735, 
133 ;  Edwards'  description  of  tlie 
people  of,  138, 139  ;  why  the  revival 
may  have  begmi  there,  140 ;  de- 
terioration iu  the  revival,  179 ; 
peculiar  case  of  discipline  at,  259 ; 
action  of  the  town  at  the  time  of 
Edwards'  dismissal,  261 ;  movement 
to  establish  there  another  church, 
273. 

Original  Sin,  its  enormity,  73,  74  ;  in- 
terpreted as  total  depravity,  85, 
note ;  as  extending  to  children, 
74  ;  Edwards'  treatise  on,  298,  299, 
302 ;  God  the  author  of,  305 ;  the 
doctrine  of,  defended  by  the  meta- 
physical argument  of  the  nature  of 
identity,  308-310. 

Pantheism,  forms  of,  119;  heretical 
expressions  of,  condemned,  224 ; 
danger  of,  in  Edwards'  thought, 
33G  ;  Ramsay's  opposition  to,  348 ; 
contrasted  with  deism,  349. 

Park,  Dr.  Edwards  A.,  344  note  ;  on 
Edwards'  Essay  on  the  Trinity,  345, 
346. 

Plato,  Edwards'  agreement  with  his 
idea  of  God,  12,  37 ;  conception  of 
knowledge,  106;  influence  of,  in 
early  church,  349. 

Porter,  Prof essor  Noah,  D.  D.,  explains 
Edwards'  relation  to  Berkeley,  15, 
note. 

Prayer,  subjective  doctrine  of,  236. 

Predestination,  62-64  ;  effects  upon,  of 
the  belief  in  conversion,  251. 

Presbyterianism,  revival  of  the  spirit 
of,  136 ;  discipline  of,  182 ;  com- 
pared with  Methodism,  212;  Ed- 
wards on  its  form  of  church  govern- 
ment, 271. 

Puritanism  (see  Calvinism),  the  at- 
mosphere of  Edwards'  youth,  6, 22  ; 
Edwards'  acceptance  of,  38 ;  se- 
verity of,  45  ;  ideal  of  a  minister's 
wife,  47 ;  in  relation  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  50,  242  ;  experiment  of  the 
theocracy,  religious  decline,  53, 
254,  256  ;  its  creed  endangered,  55 ; 
necessity  of  reaflBrming  the  princi- 
ple of,  in  order  to  a  reform  of  its 
discipline,  56 ;  its  doctrine  of  di- 
vine sovereignty,  79  ;  conditions  of 
church  membership,  135  ;  weakened 
by  the  results  of  the  Great  Awaken- 
ing, 182,  209 ;  its  parochial  organi- 
zation, 209,  210  ;  its  sensitiveness  in 
regard  to  modes  of  worship,  241 ; 
its    doctrine    of    relation    between 


church  and  state,  253  ff ;  rejection 
of  the  sacramental  principle,  263  ; 
Edwards'  relation  to  the  early  ^lew 
England  type  of,  269,  270. 

Quakerism, Edwards'prejudice  against, 
70;  Puritan  dread  of,  178,  267; 
how  Edwards  diliers  from  as  to  ex- 
ternal rites,  242 ;  relation  to  slavery, 
250. 

Ramsay,  Chevalier,  his  Philosophical 
Principles,  346  -  351  ;  quotations 
from,  350,  351. 

Religious  Affections,  Edwards'  treatise 
on,  218-232 ;  quotation  from,  on 
sorrow  after  conversion,  35 ;  inti- 
mates Edwards'  dislike  to  Half-way 
Covenant,  258. 

Responsibility,  62,  293. 

Revelation,  Edwards'  early  idea  of  as 
iimnedlate,  12  ;  considered  as  light, 
68. 

Revival  at  Northampton,  133-136 ;  pre- 
vious movements  of  a  similar  kind, 
137  ;  how  the  revival  began,  140  ; 
effects  of,  142 ;  successive  stages  of, 
144  If ;  physical  manifestations  of, 
154 ;  taking  the  covenant,  156 ;  re- 
sults in  large  admissions  to  the 
church,  158;  subsidence  of,  159, 
abnormal  tendency  in,  159. 

Royce,  J.,  Religion  of  Philosophy,  88, 
note. 

Sandeman,  asserts  the  principle  of  in- 
activity, 115. 

Saybrook  Platform,  connection  with 
of  Mrs.  Edwards'  father,  45  ;  elfort 
to  enforce  the  principles  of,  182. 

Schleiermacher,  his  sermons  on  de- 
pendence, 57  ;  idea  of  the  miracu- 
lous, 66. 

Scotland,  Edwards'  influence  in,  91, 
134,  162  ;  memorial  from,  232,  2.S3  ; 
Edwards'  correspondents  in,  271, 
273;  reception  of  his  Freedom  of 
the  Will  in,  293. 

Scripture,  study  of,  29,  43,  108 ;  Cal- 
vin's view  of,  135. 

Sin  (see  Original  Sin),  no  pervading 
sense  of,  in  early  experience,  34 ; 
extent  and  enormity  of,  73  ;  rela- 
tion of,  to  punishment,  85  ;  origin 
of,  87,  88  ;  unpardonable,  113 ;  un- 
ethical conception  of,  311. 

Smyth,  Prof.  E.  C,  344,  352,  note. 

Sovereignty  of  God,  Edwards'  early 
repugnance  to,  37  ;  ignored  by  Ar- 
minianism,  58 ;  Edwards'  assertion 
of,  59,  60,  297  ;  relation  of,  to  God's 
moral    government,    79,    81,     87 ; 


INDEX. 


401 


connection  with  Justification  by 
Faith,  96  ;  how  it  atfected  Edwards' 
preaching,  115;  in  Edwards'  later 
experience,  131 ;  in  the  religious  ex- 
perience of  the  revival,  149 ;  con- 
tradiction of,  in  Freedom  of  the 
Will,  Dy  attributing  necessity  to 
God,  297. 

Spinoza,  resemblance  to  Edwards,  12, 
21,  37,  57,  317,  348;  the  Ethica 
of,  3-20-322. 

Stiles,  Dr.  Ezra,  his  estimate  of  Ed- 
wards as  a  tutor  at  Yale,  23 ;  opin- 
ion of  Edwards'  writings,  385. 

Stoddard,  Solomon,  Timothy  Edwards 
married  a  daughter  of,  2  ;  virtues  of, 
reflected  in  the  daughter,  3 ;  char- 
acter of,  39,  40 ;  his  death,  50  ;  his 
theology,  etc.,  51 ;  revivals  in  his 
time,  137 ;  condition  of  North- 
amptiou  after  death  of,  139 ;  his 
modification  of  the  Half-way  Cove- 
nant, 257,  263. 

Stoicism,  349,  383. 

Stowe,  Prof.  C.  E.,  342. 

Taylor,  Isaac,  285. 

Taylor,  Dr.  John,  Examination  of 
the  Doctrine  of  Original  Sin,  306, 
311. 

Tillotson,  Archbishop,  98. 

Tracy,  J.,  Description  of  the  Great 
Awakening,  161,  181. 

Transcendentalism,  in  Edwards' 
thought,  68. 

Trinity,  the  doctrine  of,  338 ;  Ed- 
wards' first  statement  of,  10  ;  subor- 
dinated to  the  atonement,  89,  99  ; 
tendency  to  the  denial  of,  81,  98; 
Edwards'  essay  on,  341  ff;  Ram- 
say's statement  of,  350,  351 ;  neces- 
sity of  eternal  distinctions  in  the 
Godhead,  352-354  ;  fellowship  of  the 
Father  and  the  Son  in  the  Spirit, 
363,368. 

Tyler,  M.  C,  on  Edwards'  relation  to 
Berkeley,  15. 

Virtue,  Nature  of,  early  theory  of,  6- 
11 ;   treatise  on,  313-327 ;   contra- 


diction in  Edwards'  views  of,  358, 
359. 

Wedgwood,  Miss,  on  Wesley's  indebt- 
edness to  Edwards,  134,  note;  on 
Wesley's  methods,  171. 

Wesley,  Charles,  171. 

Wesley,  John,  reads  Edwards'  Nar- 
rative, etc.,  134,  note;  belief  in  re- 
gard to  impressions,  171  ;  edits  Ed- 
wards' Thoughts  on  the  Revival, 
203 ;  sanction  of  lay  preaching,  212 ; 
rejected  the  distinction  between 
elect  and  non-elect,  251. 

Westminster  Confession,  Edwards 
willing  to  subscribe  the  substance 
of,  271  ;  his  departure  from,  in  re- 
gard to  Adam's  freedom,  304. 

Whitefield,  his  sermons,  42 ;  descrip- 
tion of  Edwards'  household,  49 ; 
belief  in  impulses  and  impressions, 
170,  171,  note  ;  introduces  confusion 
into  New  England  churches,  180, 
note,  210. 

Will,  The,  Edwards'  earlier  view  of, 
33  ;  God  conceived  as,  59  ;  denial  of 
the  freedom  of,  62,  73,  110,  111; 
freedom  of,  in  God,  62,  297  ;  as  ad- 
dressed by  Edwards  in  preaching, 
109  ;  conscious  self  -  direction  of, 
112 ;  Edwards'  conception  of  free- 
dom of,  111,  294,  295,  303 ;  conse- 
quences of  the  denial  of  the  free- 
dom of,  73,  112,  116,  117,  294,  295 ; 
no  unconscious  growth  of,  148 ; 
Edwards'  treatise  on,  281-301. 

Williams,  Rev.  Solomon,  replies  to 
Edwards'  Qualifications,  264 ;  Ed- 
wards' rejoinder  to,  268,  279,  280. 

Witchcraft  delusion,  impossible  a  gen- 
eration earlier  or  later,  53. 

Wyclifie,  on  church  and  state,  56, 
256. 

Yale  College,  inchoate  condition  of, 
4;  Berkeley's  philosophy  in,  16; 
relation  of  to  the  revival,  181  ;  re- 
fuses degree  to  Brainerd,  243-245  ; 
memorial  window  to  Edwards  in 
chapel  of,  386. 


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